"I hate my name," Tom said, sneering at his own diary, before flinging it into his trunk in obvious distaste. It was ludicrous and he would never use it, stupid rich people who felt guilty and liked to appear generous and since they couldn't hand over food they were giving other items to appear benevolent. There were a few rich people who 'donated' regularly to the orphanage, normally around Christmastime.
"Why?" Harry asked, playing clueless as he turned around to face him his own diary laying discarded at the bottom of his bed. Had he already begun using the name Voldemort? He had assumed it was a bit too early for that but maybe he was wrong. He knew two reasons why Tom hated his name in the future, one because he was named after a 'filthy muggle' and two because he felt it was too plain for a wizard like himself.
"It's such a common name," Tom complained, he was a wizard, he was better than them all so of course his name should reflect that. One day he would have a name that everyone whispered in reverence. Just wait until he was older, he would do it; he was nothing if not determined to see his plans through. Although he wasn't sure what those plans were, he only had tentative plans on that front.
"Were you named after your father and grandfather?" Harry enquired, all this lying was becoming bothersome, he had to watch himself every minute of every day lest he say something that he couldn't explain away. Truth of the matter was, Harry wanted someone to talk to about all this, other than Death - but he couldn't remain talking to him for hours upon hours. He was much too busy, thank to this damned war. There was nobody out there he could speak to, but he was used to being on his own, so why was it always so difficult?
"How do you know that?" Tom demanded suspiciously. His mind temporarily taken off just how much he loathed his normal name.
"It's the usual wizarding practice, Tom," Harry said giving him a strange look for his paranoia. "Most people call the heir…the first name after one of the grandparents and the middle name after the father. The second child if there is one gets the other names, although I didn't get one…my name is just Hadrian Peverell - no middle name." he said thoughtfully wondering why that was. He would never know, and Hadrian couldn't help but wonder if there had been a Hadrian in existence and he had died before he took over…or if Death had created his entire lineage from nothing.
Tom just nodded without saying anything further, he didn't dare even think about what he suspected. That his father was a Muggle, it was quite frankly horrifying to contemplate. Especially as a Slytherin and someone with a desire to go on and do well, admitting a Muggle father would cause all sorts of damage if they found out.
"I've never met anyone else named Tom, have you?" Harry added, well he did know one person in future, the barkeeper at the Leaky Cauldron was named Tom as well. Other than that, it wasn't as normal as he seemed to think, at least not in the wizarding world, probably more popular in the Muggle world if anything.
"Well, no," Tom admitted his face screwing up just thinking about it.
"Do you know how popular Merlin's name was or Emrys as he was called was back in the day?" Harry said thoughtfully.
"No, what's your point?" Tom stated cautiously.
"There were lots of Merlin's and Emrys, but we only remember one," Harry explained, seeing the blank look on Tom's face he hurried with his point. "Your name doesn't define who you are, Tom, you define what your name is. You're the brightest student at Hogwarts, top of all your classes, a Slytherin just like Merlin was, you can go on to do extraordinary things like him, I know you could do it." hopefully he could stop him from trying to control the magical population the way he had thought to in future. "It doesn't matter who you are named after, it's not them that's the smartest at Hogwarts…it's you, so what does it matter whether you aren't named after a star? Or something really weird…can you imagine how they would have reacted if either of our names were like say Thaddeus? I mean look at the stink my last name wrought. Not that their names are original, they're just recycled from the family tree." they being everyone at the orphanage. Harry shrugged his shoulders absently, before lying back down on the bed, surprisingly he wasn't tired despite the fact he'd had only what? A few hours sleep at most. Perhaps given time Tom would be more accepting of his name and not utterly disgusted by it.
Tom stared at Hadrian thoughtfully, genuinely surprised enough that he couldn't think of anything to say for the life of him. If there was anything Tom aspired it was greatness, to be more than just a boy from an orphanage. To be remembered, revered by all.
"Tom, did you ever see anyone from the Magical world before you came to Hogwarts? I mean someone from the Ministry? Like the accidental magic reversal squad?" Harry asked curiously, his hand spread out against the wall humming softly, as if he found some sort of familiarity or comfort from it.
"No," Tom replied, honestly he changed the subject so constantly he found it hard to keep up. Especially when it came to his life, or where and how he had grown up. Everyone in Slytherin already suspected he hadn't come from a Muggle family at all, either that or he had phenomenal control over his magic - they weren't sure what to believe. He on the other hand knew Hadrian wasn't telling the truth, it wasn't just a gut instinct either, since Hadrian had confirmed it to him just days after starting classes. He still hadn't quite managed to figure out why he had been so…obliging in telling him that either - he certainly wasn't up for letting anyone else know.
"But you did magic, yes?" Harry enquired.
"Why do I get the feeling you already know the answers to all the questions?" Tom snapped out irritated, and he wasn't sharing how he knew either.
"Do you want to know why they never came? Why you weren't found before you were invited to join Hogwarts?" Harry asked, ignoring Tom's anger for the moment. "Despite all the magic you did…all the magic you performed on the Muggles."
Tom's eyes narrowed into slits, he wanted to remain furious, but the second those startling green eyes met his he was lost momentarily in their depths. "Why does it matter?" he gritted out almost petulantly. He desperately wanted to know how Hadrian knew so much yet was so obvious in other areas.
"You do know the second someone performed magic on or in front of a Muggle the magical world finds out don't you?" Harry said quietly, "At least that's the way it's meant to be."
"Where are you going with this, Hadrian?" Tom sighed exasperated.
"Come here," Harry said sitting back up and edging towards the top of his bed, inviting the other teen over, his hand still curiously enough on the wall. "Come on, I'm not going to bite." he laughed at the look on Tom's face - he was probably wondering whether he had lost his mind or not. Maybe he had, he was taking a big risk in telling him this.
With a much put up on sigh, he moved over to Hadrian keeping a bit of distance between them, glancing at his suspiciously. Which just seemed to amuse Hadrian to no end, much to his consternation. He hadn't actually seen Hadrian intimidated by anyone, not even him. Part of him was curious about what he was up to though, but none of that showed on his face.
"Put your hand against the wall," Harry instructed him, watching him do it before he asked, "Do you feel that? The magic?"
"What are you talking about?" Tom blurted out, "There's nothing there!" he couldn't feel anything. He would have thought Hadrian was having him on if he hadn't seen his adverse reaction to pranks. It was the second time he'd ever seen Hadrian pissed off enough to unleash his magic, but not the amount he had in the common room he'd observed. Some idiot had tried to prank Myrtle, and Hadrian had taken offence, the instigator had ended up in the hospital wing repairing three broken bones instead of Myrtle, Dumbledore put it down to an accidental backfire of the 'toy prank' and Dumbledore had made sure his precious Gryffindor hadn't gotten points removed for trying to use such a dangerous 'prank' in school. Because there was absolutely no doubt that was exactly what it was. The look on Hadrian's face when Dumbledore made his announcement made Tom shiver with longing and desire. Even now remembering it could make him react like nothing else.
"Spread your magic out, let it touch the wall," Harry said softly watching him sombrely. "You'll feel it,"
Tom stared back surprised by his sudden mood change, before allowing his magic to flow through his arm up into his hand and through the wall, he gasped in astonishment, feeling the strange magic welcoming him as if it had been with him his entire life. This was a Muggle building why would there be magic here living in the walls unless a great big battle had taken place here? He knew it definitely wasn't his magic - nor was it Hadrian's. "What is that?" Tom asked wrenching his hand back, he'd never felt anything like it, warm, welcoming and something strange he couldn't identify it was too…positive for a boy like him who was used to negative emotions.
"It's like being bathed in a warm hug, its protective magic, Tom." Harry explained, "The sacrificial kind of protective magic, from your mum."
"My mother was weak!" Tom snapped getting off Hadrian's bed and putting distance between them. "She did not die to save me! She died because she was weak!" he repeated himself as if saying it once wasn't enough. Yet the trickling of doubt settled in deeply within him, if she was so weak why was her magic here? Hadrian couldn't possible know what his mothers magic felt like! It could be anyone's magic; he was an idiot to even believe him for a second. Yet the thought that she wasn't weak…he yearned for that.
"In some aspects she was weak, yes," Harry said slowly, "but that was due to the inbreeding in the Gaunt line,"
Tom spun around incredulously, he had spent years getting every glean of information he possibly could. Three years it had taken him to get information on his family. Years of searching had wielded nothing on the Riddle family, so he had gone by his middle name Marvolo and there was plenty information on that particular person. A wizard called Marvolo Gaunt; the articles were about him and Morfin Gaunt being imprisoned for attacking Muggles and Ministry workers. He had just figured out at the end of the year for sure that he was Slytherin's descendant, yet here was a boy the same age as him telling him information on his own family? He didn't know whether to curse him or demand answers on everything he knew. It sunk in what he was saying, inbreeding? He said it out loud questioning it. "Inbreeding?"
"Your grandfather and grandmother were cousins; in their bid to keep the Slytherin line pure was breeding pureblood's that were…not right in the head as well as magically weak. If your mum had married a pureblood and had an heir the likelihood would stand that it would have been a squib. Its why such old lines are dying out." Harry said quietly.
"You know about my father?" Tom demanded, boring holes in Harry his hands clenched into fists. If he knew so much about his family then he must do, he certainly implied it by saying 'if his mum had married a pureblood'.
"Why do you think you're so powerful, Tom? The infusion of Muggle blood creates a wizard with extraordinary magical powers. While it's true it doesn't always work that way, nine times out of ten it is. Look at yourself, me and Dumbledore, we are proof of that." Harry pointed out.
Tom startled, looking utterly bewildered. "Dumbledore?" he spat, what did he have to do with this.
"Dumbledore's mother was a Muggle born witch, she married a pureblood, and she left behind two wizards with power levels off the charts. Not as powerful as you will become though, when you reach your majority there won't be many that can match you when it comes to raw power alone." Harry replied.
"And you?" Tom asked, sitting down, his brow furrowed as he thought on everything he was learning. It contracted everything he knew, yet he believed Hadrian for some reason - it just had logical sense to it. Why could Hadrian know these things? Even if he was brought up by someone from the magical world it shouldn't have been possible. How did he know so much about his family?
"Muggle born mother, pureblood father," Harry revealed honestly, and in future there would be one exactly like Tom - Severus Snape a powerful wizard but he never truly knew just how powerful Snape was, he hid how good he was, and never openly displaying his abilities - well aside from his brilliance at spell creating and potions - especially potions. "There's no such thing as Muggle-born Tom, two normal Muggles cannot create a magical child, and it would take someone with magical blood to join with a Muggle to create one. Such as a squib that's been cast out, or even a child with a magical father who doesn't have magic himself…can create a child with magical powers. Its all twisted within our DNA, a simple spell would show the Muggle-born's that they're descendants from the pureblood lines within Hogwarts."
"That's what you plan on doing for magical theory isn't it?" Tom blurted out understanding why he hadn't offered anything of the sort to Black despite the fact he had seen him looking up information earlier that day before she asked for advice.
"I'm also going to publish my findings, yes," Harry said he would change the magical world if it was the last thing he did. Oh, he knew not everyone would believe it, in fact there would be those that purposely ignore it - not wishing for it to be true. Since it would change every preconceived notion they'd ever had.
"How do you know all this?" Tom asked calmly, despite the fact he was anything but. "It's impossible for someone to know as much as you do; even learning everything there is to know in books or from someone. You know things you shouldn't, especially about me when even I don't know them! Or just recently found out! You weren't even surprised I could speak Parseltongue! You know things about me nobody - not even the others in Slytherin know."
Hadrian's gaze let him know that he knew just how badly Tom was taking it despite his impressive impenetrable masks.