Tom Marvolo Riddle was indeed a handsome person, there is no denying that.
He had a tall, slim build. He may not look like the strongest, but don’t let the looks deceive you because trust me, he is indeed stronger than he may seem.
His skin is this pale doll like color, the kind of color a chines doll would have. Ever since I first saw that young boy his skin has always looked almost to perfect. To flawless.
Those dark brown eyes to, look almost to perfect.
But then if you look good enough you notice just how dead those brown eyes look, how it looks like all light just gets sucked in. And then you take notice of how he never gets undressed in front of anyone. Ever. How each time he comes back after summer he looks paler than before, more tired, frail almost.
But after years of mastering the art of manipulation and deceiving looks, he makes sure that nobody notices these things. He makes up a persona. One that is always kind in a strange way, helpful whenever someone asks. Perfect grades, top of his year actually.
All his teachers praise him for it. They tell him how successful he will end up after graduating.
Then we have Dumbledore. Taking house-points at any given chance, or simply not giving any. He looks down at him. Never seems impressed by his perfect essays or perfect answers. No matter what Riddle does, Dumbledore always looks at him as if he did something wrong.
And well, I suppose that's how everyone else sees it. But when you know the truth, you see it in a whole new light. When you’ve seen what the perfect Tom Marvolo Riddle turns into over the years you understand that Dumbledore does not hate him, not at all, he fears him, he fears the rising power he can feel under his skin, growing stronger and stronger each year. He fears his potentials.
He fears him.
I don’t. Not anymore. Yes, I’m always on edge around him due to good reasons, but not the same reason as others do.
They usually fear him because he is a year perfect and he is the most influential person in Slytherin at the moment, having built a group of the best and most influential pure-bloods in his year and many other years to. And then we have the fact that he’s a parslemouth and Slytherins Heir.
Me however, I’m on edge around him because I know of the plans he has for his future. The things he’s willing to do to accomplish his so called dreams.
I know what he turns into over the years. How he doesn’t even hesitate to try and kill a child due to a prophecy he didn’t even know half of.
I know how over the years he hunts after that child, willing to go to extreme lengths just to secure the child’s death. I know the horrid feeling of being hunted by him for years on end. Having a dark lord on your back since you turned 11 does something to one.
I was expected to kill him.
Ever since I was 11, or actually, since I was 1, I have been called many things, but most of all, the Savior of the Wizarding World. In my mind it was wonderful to finally have friends and people around me who liked me and trusted me, but now, many decades in the past I’ve come to the realization that a child should not have to grow up with that on their shoulders.
No matter what they feel like, a child should not grow up with everyone around them expecting them to kill a person. To save a whole generation of wizards.
When I was 15 however, me, Hermione and Ron decided that it would be such a good idea to use a time turner again. Not.
I ended up in the year 1938, in the body of a 10 year old boy named Hadrian Cross, who lived with an adoptive family who was in fact almost worse than the Dursleys. That says a lot about just how bad they treated him- or me.
Well, it took a while before I fully understood what was going on. And then I got a Hogwarts letter and I jumped at the chance to leave, to learn more and maybe even figure out if I could go back.
I imagined my life would finally be a bit quieter, maybe even normal, but I had no knowledge of Tom Riddle before that. I got sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor, which I was not super happy with in the start but over the years I’ve come to prefer the company of the Slytherins more than the Gryffindors.
Now as I said earlier, I didn’t know of Tom Riddle before a few moths into the year. I observed him because he seemed a bit different than most others and I pieced it all together and figured it out. Over the years its become more obvious too, so I would have realized at some point, I’m not that oblivious.
I didn’t really want to associate myself with him or any of his friends and simply decided to watch from a distance, making sure they didn’t do anything to fucked up. And its not like I caught their interest much. I was fairly quiet, reserved and I had a muggle name. They don't associate themselves with Muggleborns if they don't have to.
This plan was working perfectly well, until it all went to hell over the summer break.
“Hadrian what the hell? You can’t stay there any more are you crazy?!” Cassie shouts at me with an angry look.
I rub my neck and look down. It’s a habit I’ve somehow picked up over the years. “Cassie it’s fine, I just needed a few days away from them that's all,” I try to convince her. I look up at her again and she’s looking at me as if I’ve actually gone crazy this time.
“Cassie come on-” The blond haired girl slaps her hand over my mouth before I get to finish.
“Nu uh, we are not doing this again. You can’t just ask to meet me at some random cafe in muggle London and show up looking like you’ve been starved the whole summer with a bruised neck and a split lip. And I’m about 100% sure your body looks way worse under those clothes,” she says in a serious tone, looking at me with actually worry.
I softly grab her hand and remove it from my mouth. “Cassie…what else am I supposed to do, I can’t go anywhere else,” I say in a softer voice.
“I…don’t you have anyone who can house you for the rest of the summer?” She asks. Her voice is soft, silent almost.
“You know I don’t, and at most I would have to live at some bloody orphanage and I would rather not,” I say with a laugh in my voice. She looks at me worried.
She opens here mouth and closes it multiple times before she finally says something. “Hadrian, an orphanage would be better and you know that. They legally can’t refuse you food, or almost kill you each time you make the smallest mistake. What your family do to you isn’t right and you know that,” her voice breaks every now and then when she talks.
I look at her a bit stunned. “I can’t just…just waltz into an orphanage and just ask if I can live there Cas,” I say, feeling my voice go hoarse. I try to smile at her reassuringly but the look she gives me makes me stop.
“I actually read up on it in case this would happen, and based of what I read about muggle orphanages they can’t deny you access if you show up looking as bad as you do right now. That would be them knowingly sending you back to an abusive home where you could possibly die, which would be looked at as a punishable crime,” she says slowly, as if scared of how I would react.
After not getting any response for a while she continues. “I also found an orphanage in this area. Wool’s Orphanage. It’s a 10 minute walk from here I think,”
I look at her in silence. Her gray eyes scan my face for something, anything, any kind of reaction. She grabs my hands in hers and cup them, holding on as if I’m going to fall apart any moment.
“Please, just…just give it a try okay? Each time I see you after the summer you always look terrible and I worry so badly over each break you have to go home that you will end up not coming back to Hogwarts. Hadrian please…” she practically begs as her voice breaks. Her eyes are filled with tears. A pureblood such as herself would never allow anyone to see her in this state, which is what finally forces me to react.
“Okay. I will go okay,” I say in a whisper.
Her face lightens up immediately, and she hops out of her chair and pulls me into a crushing hug. Normally she’s a few centimeters taller than me, but with her wearing a pair of lower heels she’s almost a head taller than me.
I hug her back and slowly stroke her back. She mumbles “Thank you” over and over again into my hair, and when she pulls back she’s got a soft smile on her face. “Should we go then?” She asks in a voice reminding of a nervous mom. I chuckle at the thought of her as a mom.
I nod, and walk out of the cafe with her, since we paid at the counter.
Outside its clammy and warm, the sun is standing high in the sky and my choice of hoodie and long pants may not have been the best choice. A bit heat is better than showing of my so called families work on me. Way better.
We walk down the busy streets of London, and I have to keep dragging Cassie with me from each interesting muggle thing she sees. It’s certainly entertaining to watch her so fascinated with everything thought.
I smile to myself while dragging her after me, maybe this wont be to bad either way.
Ha, spoke to soon. She somehow managed to drag me into an antique store and now we’ve been in here for more than 30 minutes. “Cassie, what are you even looking for?” I ask her as I trail behind her. She stops at yet another mirror. “Nothing special, I just like to look. Maybe I find something that would fit into the manor somewhere,” She says in a cheery voice.
I groan loudly.
She walks further into the store and I just stand there and watch. I look over at the mirror she had been admiring just a few seconds ago. It’s quite pretty, I’ll give it that. It has small silver snakes as edges around the whole mirror.
I step in front of it to get a better view, but when I catch a glimpse of myself I freeze. My dark brown hair is reaching my shoulders now, it reminds me of Sirius actually, and I try to get it up in a pony tail.
“Ah need something to tie your hair up with hun, here you go,” an elderly lady says sweetly, as she comes out from nowhere. She hands be a black silk ribbon and walks away.
I look back at her stunned. “Where the heck did she come from?” I mumble to myself. I shake my head and go back to trying to tie my hair up.
After a few attempts I finally manage to get it up into a half up half down ponytail, with some hair still hanging in front of my eyes. I look at myself a bitt better, letting my dull, green eyes take in how I look.
Sirius.
That’s who I look like. I look like the tired man just after he got out of Azkaban. Pale skin with a split lip, a badly bruised neck and hints of fading bruises down my neckline. My eyes have a more dull green than usual and you can clearly see the eye-bags under them.
Even while looking like this I still look halfway decent however.
If I was in my old body, Harry Potters body, I would have looked like shit right now.
When in Hadrian Cross's body however, I look like a slim, maybe a bit tired, boy. That’s all. You cant see the bruises to much if your not actually looking for them, and the split lip isn’t that bad.
Someone shouting my name brings me out of my thoughts.
“Hadrian, there you are. Ready to go or?” Cassie asks, coming out from seemingly nowhere. What’s with everyone just appearing from nowhere today.
I follow Cassie outside again and ask if she’s bought anything. Apparently she got a pair of emerald earrings, talking about how well it will go with her Slytherin uniform.
“I’ll show them once were back at school okay, now however, we are finally here. Wool’s Orphanage.”
I look to my right and just as she said, there is a big brick building standing before us with two dark wooden doors and some letters above them, forming the words “Wool’s Orphanage”.
It’s surrounded in tall fences all around, with a smaller garden around it. A quite ugly garden at that too.
“This is one of the most depressing places I’ve ever seen before Cas.” I say, while looking the brick building up and down.
“Oh give it a try, maybe its better on the inside. Well, that is if we manage to get inside,” She says reassuringly, even thought I can almost hear how she also knows that it will indeed not be any better inside.
I take a deep breath, and walk up the stairs to the front doors with Cas right behind me.
I can see myself in the dark windows in the door and take in my outfit before I knock on the door. I’ve got some black pants on and a bit baggy white shirt on. It’s not baggy baggy, its just one of those with bigger arms at the end.
My…family…was not poor to say so, so the clothes I use are fairly good ones, but also just hand me downs from one of the older siblings in the family. It was weird as hell to start using these kinds of clothes when I first got here, but after some time I got used to it. Its not like I have to wear it every day.
I look over at Cassie and she smiles at me. I give a small smile back before I knock on the door. Three quick knocks.
We stand there in silence, with me praying to Merlin that nobody opens and Cassie obviously hoping someone does. We wait for a few minutes and right when I’m about to turn around and leave a lady opens the door.
“Can I help you with something?” She asks in a stern voice. She has her hair pulled up in a tight bun and her face looks to be in a a constant frown.
Cassie starts talking before I get that chance to. “Yes, actually. May we come in? It’s something concerning my friend here.” Cassie says easily, putting on her pureblood charm. The lady looks at her and then back at me and tells us to come in.
“You are aware this is an orphanage, right?” She asks while walking quickly further into the building. “
“Yes, we are. That’s why we’re here,” Cassie replies almost immediately, as if expecting the question. The lady nods and continues to walk further in. We pass a few kids on our way in, but non of them notices us.
We finally step into what looks to be an office.
“Well, what do you want?”
“He needs a place to stay. And before you go on about needing papers and stuff on that, no you don’t, if the case is sever enough. I’ll just quickly explain the situation shall I. Him, Hadrian Cross,” she points over to me, “Has been both starved and almost beaten to death multiple times. You are welcome to check the state of him if you should wish to,” she explains with a serious face.
We had already discussed what to say before we got here so this is going well so far.
“I need to see actually proof so off with your shirt boy,” the woman says in a cool tone. I hesitate for a second before I begin to unbutton my shirt.
I let it fall of my shoulders and down to the floor and turn around to show her my back. My back has always looked way worse than the rest of my body.
A quiet gas can be hear, from Cassie I assume. A cold hand touches my back carefully before retreating quickly. “Put your shirt back on boy,” The voice is still just as cool, but this time a bit quieter.
I comply and quickly put it on, while avoiding Cassie eyes. I don’t want to see her face now that she’s seen just how disgusting I truly look.
“I will let your stay here if you follow all rules and do as your told. Do you go to school?” I nod at the question. “Very well, you will keep track of your schedule on your own, and the school supplies will be paid by us if needed.”
“I go to a boarding school in Scotland.” I add in.
She looks at me in what looks like wonder for a few seconds before she’s back to the cold stare. “Your expected to get there on your own.” She says as she pulls out a paper and hands it to me. “These are the rules, you follow them or I punish you the way I see fit, now follow me. We don’t have a whole free room so you will share one with one of the others your age. How old are you?” She questions as she leads us back out the doors we entered and up some stairs. I can feel Cassie walking behind us, following.
“15.” I reply back.
“Very well, I will place you with Tom Riddle,” She quickly says, while walking up a pair of stairs.
I freeze on the spot, and Cassidy bumps into my back. Did she just say…Tom Riddle…as in the Tom Riddle.
“Did she just say Tom Riddle?” Cassy whispers into t. “This is where you will be staying until one of the other rooms clear out. Tom will help you around for the first week but after that you are on your own,” Mrmy ear. I nod, not fully trusting my voice.
I force my legs to start walking again and follow close after the woman, “Pardon me, but may I ask what your name is, or what I shall call you?” I ask.
“Call me Mrs. Cole,” Mrs. Cole replies quickly.
She stops outside a door, with the number 27 on the middle of it. “This is where you will be staying until one of the other rooms clear out. Tom will help you around for the first week but after that you are on your own,” Mrs. Cole explains before she knocks on the door.
Nothing.
She knocks again.
“Cassie keep your head down, he will most likely recognize you.” I whisper to Cassie. Her eyes widen before she quickly lowers her head, right before the door opened.
“Can I help you?” The well known monotone voice of Tom Riddle asks. I dare not look at him, keeping my eyes on Mrs. Coles back.
“Yes, this is your new roommate starting today,” she pushes me forward to stand besides her, “Hadrian Cross. He will be staying with you until one of the other rooms clear out. And for the first week you will be showing him around and make sure he knows what times to wake up and how to do his chores,” she turns around and looks at me, “If you need anything I will be in my office,” is the last thing she says before she walks down the corridor and down the stairs.
It’s quiet for a while, and nobody moves.
An arm suddenly grabs my bicep and turns me around forcefully. Cassie hugs me as if this is the last time she will see me, and I can’t help but chuckle.
“Cassie I’ll be fine, its okay now,” I grab her face and smile at her, “This is where you wanted me, its safe here,” I say. Even thought I don’t believe my own words, I just need Cassie to believe me.
Her eyes are tear filled again, “Please be safe okay, you need to be safe for me…promise me you will return to Ho- me in good health,” she whispers to me. I give her a reassuring smile back and nod, “Of course I will.” I can’t promise.
She hugs me one last time before she retreats down the hallway. She looks back once, her gray eyes meeting my green ones and she gives me a sad smile before she finally disappears down the stairs.
Now for the hard part.
I turn around and meet the eyes of the boy I’ve been avoiding like the plague. He stares at me with cold eyes. He looks me up and down and scowls at me, almost as if I’m a piece of trash placed outside his door.
Without saying anything he turns around and walks back into the small room.
Okay that works for me to, no need to speak. I walk into the room and take it in.
There’s two beds, both pushed up to opposite walls with a desk besides them. There’s one closet beside the door.
Riddles side has a bunch of books, all placed neatly on the desk and besides the bed and a few parchments on the desk plus a quill. That’s it.
A sudden realization sinks in. I don’t have any of my stuff, its all back at that place.
“Shit,” I hiss out in frustration. I hurriedly walk out of the door and slam if behind me. Quickly I run down to the office and tell Mrs. Cole I will be back after getting my things, which she approves of.
I run through London in this burning heat, still with pants and a long sleeve. Thirty minutes later I reach the small mansion.
Sweat is dripping down my forehead and my clothes are sticking to my skin but I leave it no mind and hurriedly make my way to the back of the house.
I make my way over to the huge apple tree and climb it. After years of climbing it to get in and out of the house unnoticed I’ve become pretty decent at climbing, but this time my hand slips and It’s right before I go plummeting straight into the ground.
I catch myself on one of the branches and pull myself up again. When I look down at my hands they are both bleeding, “I’ll fix it later,” I mumble. I quickly make my way up to my window and push it open again. I used to to climb out so its still open.
The second I get in I find my trunk I use when I go to Hogwarts and start throwing my clothes and books in, my finished homework and some extra parchment. Luckily I don’t have to worry about Ignis, my cat. I always leave her with Cassie over breaks.
Once I’ve packed I use a charm to make the trunk smaller and place it in my pocket. It’s a simple charm so it took no time before I learned how to do it wandless.
Wait- where’s my wand again? Trunk? Yes, I never took it out. Okay, last thing to do, write a note.
I pull out the last parchment I have on the desk and a quill and start writing.
Dear Mother and Father
I have left and am now staying at a place which actually treats me as a basic human being. I apologize for only leaving a note, but you should still be happy You should be happy I even left anything after everything you have put me through.
I will not miss you, and I know you will not miss me.
Jeremy, I hope you and Sasha have a good life and get the chance to grow old together.
Lucas, please take care of Zoe, she loves you deeply ever thought you may not have realized it yet.
I hope our paths never have to cross again,
Hadrian Cross
Your forgotten son
I drop the quill and look over the letter and cant help but chuckle at it. “Your forgotten son” I added it simply to spite them, seeing as even calling myself their son is a disgrace in their eyes.
I shake my head and walk over to the window, but before I make it out the door opens up behind me. My head snaps around and I meet the eyes of Zoe, one of our maids.
We stare at each other for a long time before she opens her mouth, “I hope you have a good life Hadrian, take care,” she says in a happy tone. She gives me one last nod and walks back out of the room, closing the door behind her.
I smile back at the door before I climb out of the window and down the tree.
Once down my hands are once again bleeding, but I tell myself I’ll just take care of it later and start walking back to the orphanage.
Once back at the orphanage I head straight up to the room while making sure nobody’s out in the hallway so I can take out my trunk and re-size it.
I walk into room no. 27 and Riddle is sitting on his bed with a book. He doesn't look at me even once, which I appreciate. Placing my trunk down on my new bed I unpack some of my clothes, but not all since I’m going back to Hogwarts in only a few weeks time.
The whole time I’m hyper aware of Riddle sitting on his bed, silently breathing the entire time.
Once I’ve unpacked I lay down on the bed face first, feeling the bed squeak under me. It’s not the worse, it sure as hell could have been a lot worse. A heavy breath escapes me as I finally let realization sink in.
I’m no longer stuck with that horrid family. I am stuck with Tom Riddle, the next dark lord.
I’m not entirely sure how to feel, but that's a problem for another day, right now I’m exhausted.
“Your back is bleeding,” Riddle says in a casual manner. Usually it would have sacred me, seeing as this is the first time he’s said anything, but being as tired as I currently am I only hum in reply.
“You should clean it up, your shirt is getting stained,” he says once again.
I groan loudly, how bad can it be if I can barely even feel it. Slowly I push myself of the bed and open the closet. On the inside of one of the doors there is a mirror, so I turn around to look at my back, and- “Shit,” I curse under my breath as I unbutton my shirt and let it slip to the floor, “Come on…”
Multiple of the scars on my back, made by the belt of my dearest father, has started cracking open. Okay some of them are not even cracking anymore they are full on open.
It must have happened because of all the running and when climbing that forsaken tree.
I walk over to my trunk and pull out some ointment I got from Zoe a while back, she used to help me put it on, but I’m sure I can figure it out.
Quickly I pull on my bloodstained shirt again, pull out a towel from the closet and a new change of clothes. I look over at Riddle, “Where is the bathroom?” I ask tiredly. He doesn’t even look up from his book when answering, but tells me its all the way down the hallway.
I walk out and head down.
The entire place is dead silent, so most of the children must have gone to bed or retreated back to their rooms. Once at the end of the hallway I enter the bathroom and walk over to the showers. I chose the one furthest away from the door and turn it on, hanging my towel on the bar besides the shower. I quickly undress and turn on the shower.
The water is cold, not turning properly warm. I let it wash away the blood as I stand under it. “It stings…” I mumble tiredly while rubbing some soap into my hair. The water is turning read all around me, but I try to pay it no mind.
Only now that I’m starting to relax more can I actually feel the damage on my back and just how much the open wounds actually hurt.
A couple minutes later I walk out of the cold shower shirtless, and make my way over to the mirrors.
I freeze in my spot when I see Riddle standing against the door, staring straight at me.
“Um, can I help you?” I ask, slowly making my way to the closest mirror, while trying not to look at him.
“Your not going to be able to put on that ointment on your own,” Riddle replies in a monotone voice. I can hear him walking, and suddenly I see him behind me in the mirror.
His eyes trail over my scarred back, but those eyes are so empty I can’t figure out what he’s thinking.
“Give it here, I will apply it,” he says, holding out his hand.
“Pardon?” I ask surprised. He looks into my eyes through the mirror, and rolls his eyes. “The ointment your holding, give it to me,” he says irritated.
I hand him the ointment slowly, and he grabs it out of my hand the second he gets the chance.
He doesn’t act like this at school, not even close. Yes, I know he puts up a facade, but to think that this is how he usually acts is…surprising to say the least.
A hiss of pain leaves me when the cold ointment touches my back. I feel the cold, slender fingers of Riddle slide over my back with the cold ointment, going over all the scars.
“Stop moving,” Riddle says in a clear voice.
I grip the sink, my knuckles turning white and my teeth grinding. Since when did this hurt so badly.
A sight of relief leaves me when he’s done, and he hands me the ointment back. I pick up my shirt and begin taking it on while Riddle goes to wash his hands. He looks back at me and scowls.
“Don’t put on a shirt, let your back breath for the night,” he practically commands.
“Oh, yeah good idea,” I mumble back while pulling the shirt of again, “Thanks for helping me with the ointment,” I thank him. He hums in response.
We walk back to the room and I immediately lay down on the mattress, with my back facing up.
I can feel Riddles eyes on me, but pay it no mind.
“Who gave you the scars, they are…absurdly deep, had there been more you could have bleed out,” Riddle comments. I turn my head to look at him. “Well good thing there’s only them then,” I reply tiredly.
It’s quiet for a while, and the only sound is the wind outside and soft breathing. Slowly my eyes close, and my breath evens out.
This was how most of the summer went, slow and quiet. Nothing big happened.
I got to know a few of the kids here and found a nice routine with the chores and meals.
The only thing that did happen was that me and Riddle got a bit closer, as weird as it is to admit that. The first week we barely spoke, only exchanging a few words every now and then, but slowly we started talking more and somehow, magically it came to this point on the 29th of August.
“Cross?” Riddle called out. I turned around and walked up to him.
“Ah there you are, I wanted to say goodbye before I leave for school,” he says quickly.
“That’s right, your leaving for school right. Well, I hope you have a good year then Riddle,” I reply with a smile. He looks at me with a weird look in his eyes, and I raise my eyebrows in a questioning manner.
“Please call me Tom instead of Riddle, I feel we are close enough for that at this point,” Riddle- Tom, says. I look at him in a surprise before I let out a soft laugh.
“Well then, please call me Hadrian then,” I tell him.
For the first time in all of summer Rid- Tom smiles. He actually smiles. And that smile is aimed at me. I smile back.
“Hope you enjoy your year Tom,” I say softly.
“Looking forward to seeing you again Hadrian,” Tom replies with a soft look on his face.
I watch Toms retreating back walk out of the main doors, and once he’s out of sight I head up to the room and pull out my trunk. He left later than I thought he would, so I have quite bad time to do everything I need to do.
Quickly I throw all my stuff into my trunk. I pull my wand out, the same wand I had back in 1981. After I went to get a new wand here I somehow ended up with the exact same wand. When my hand wraps around it I feel my magic pulsing under my skin and I breath in.
“I’ve missed this feeling,” I whisper.
I place the wand in my back pocket and make sure that my shirt is covering it, which it is.
I make my way down and head in to Mrs. Coles office to let her know I’m leaving.
“Well then, have a good school year Mr. Cross, I will see you next year. Safe travels,” Is the last thing she tells me before I leave.
After some time here I’ve figured out that the Wizard Buss is also a thing here so I walk out and down the street and wait. A few minutes later the buss comes to a sudden halt in front of me. I walk on and tell the driver to drop me of in front of the Leaky Cauldron. I hand over the correct amount of money and of we are.
This bus has always made me nauseous as ever, and the whole ride I feel as if I am mere seconds from my lunch coming up, luckily it doesn’t. Once we stop I make my way in to the Leaky Cauldron and walk up to Tom, the bartender.
Once he sees me he shots me a big smile which I return. This Tom is almost the same as the one from my original time, only he looks slightly younger here.
“Hadrian, how’s yer summer break been ey? Enjoyed yerself I hope,” Tom says in a cherry voice.
“I have yes, thanks for asking. Hope yours been just as enjoyable, I sadly don’t have the time to talk that much today seeing as I am a bit behind schedule, so I will head on through now,” I reply with a polite smile.
Tom just waves goodbye and goes back to working while I make my way through the bar and out to the brick wall behind the Leaky Cauldron.
I tap in the code which is now engraved into my head, and head on through to Diagon Alley.
From there it all goes pretty quick, though I do try to be on the lookout for the familiar dark haired boy I’ve been getting acquainted with over the summer. I would prefer it if he did not know me outside of the orphanage.
That will be a harder task than I thought…I live in the same dorm as he does…”Crap,” I curse under my breath. That’s a problem for later, I think to myself. How he hasn't recognized me over the summer is a pure miracle.
I walk down Knockturn Alley, towards one of the few animal shops I know of that sell reptiles. Lately I’ve really been wanting a snake or perhaps a lizard. It would be even cooler if it was venomous, thought I highly doubt they would sell a venomous snake to a 15 year old.
Once outside the familiar shop named “Ricks Reptiles” I stop and take a quick look around, and then head on in.
Inside the cramped shop it is warm and damp, perfect for most of the reptiles here. There is also a lingering smell of…dead animals? Perhaps. I can’t put my finger on it.
I look around and walk deeper into the small and cramped place. Rick, the owner is feeding some of the lizards further back and hasn’t noticed me yet. I look over the smaller lizards around me, some of them do look quite interesting, but they don’t really call to me.
That sounds weird to say- anyway, I make my way over to some of the snakes and look them over but stop once I see one that catches my eye.
All the way in the back there is a black snake with accents of red along its back. It’s fairly big, almost half of my arm. Walking over to it I see the small plate with information on it.
Species: Magical Banded Krait
Extra Info:
Venomous:
The venom can paralyze the victims respiratory muscles which can result in death by suffocation, with the additional magic in the snake its venom will also make the victim feel like they are on fire from the inside and out, and will slowly spread throughout the entire body
Antidote:
The antidote can be found in a few places in Asia: Thailand, Indonesia and India
Name: Indian Polyvalent Anti-venom
How to use: Inject 10 doses of IPA (Indian Polyvalent Anti-venom), must be commenced immediately if any neurotoxic signs appear
Okay so this one is definitely very venomous, perhaps I could try…
“Hello there, what isss your name?" I hiss at the snake, its head moves in my direction immediately.
“You sspeak the language of sssnakesss hatchling, itsss been yearssss sssince I lassst meet one of your kind who can sspeak it. I do not have a name hatchling,” the snake hiss back in response.
“Well, perhapss I could give you a name? And take you with me, if that isss okay with you?” I ask the snake carefully, not keen on angering the snake.
“Do you truly wish to take me with you, young hatchling? If so, it would be my honour,” the snake responds.
I shoot it a smile and tell it I’ll be back while I get the owner. Once back with the owner he helps me find everything I will need, including a terrarium, the proper food diet (small dead animals) and extra things for the terrarium. He also tells me I can buy two vials of the antidote, which I of course do.
Once I’ve paid for everything, which ended up being around 23 galleons, I let the snake wrap around my arm and sneak its way around my upper arm and neck. Everything else was putt in an expandable bag with a feather weight charm on.
Once we head outside I ask the snake, “Do you have any idea what you would like to be called? If not I have an idea,” I hiss lowly at it, making sure nobody else hears me. It’s barely any people out now, seeing as it is fairly late and were in Knockturn Alley.
“I do not have any specific name in mind, so I would be open to anything hatchling,” she hisses back.
“Well then, what do you think about Asaka? I feel it fits you because it means beautiful death in Japanese,” I tell her.
“Asaka,” she tries it out, “Asaka is a fitting name master, what shall I call you?” Akasa asks
“My name is Hadrian Cross, so you can call me either Hadrian or Cross. And there is no need to call me master Asaka,” I tell the snake with a chuckle.
She slides further up my neck and up my head until her tail is wrapped around my neck loosely and her head rests on top of my head.
“You are my master, so I will call you master. Hadrian sounds better than Cross, Cross sounds weak and master is not weak,” Asaka hisses back.
I laugh out loud at that and shake my head softly at the stubborn snake. After this we head on over to one of the ins I often stay at before school starts up. We stop outside and in with the name 'Williams Wonderful In' and walk in.
It’s an old place, been here for a long time to, but despite its age its a really comfortable place. The owner Felix, is Williams grandson, and he took over after his father died a while ago.
“Hey Felix, can I get my usual room? Two nights please,” I call out to Felix. The ginger man gives me a thumbs up and hands me the key with the number 14 on it. I hand him the gold and head on up to my room.
I usually stay here at the end of every summer, so Felix always knows that I come at some point around this time and keeps at least one room clear, which has now started to always be no. 14.
I open the dark wooden door to my room and lock it behind me. I place down the bag with all the snake stuff, pull out my trunk and place it besides the bag.
I walk up to the queen sized bed and fall down flat of my face.
A loud groan escapes me. Asaka makes her way of my head and lays down on the pillow besides me.
This has been an exhausting day, and I am very ready for a couple of well deserved hours of sleep. And that is exactly what I end up doing, sleep. I’m out like a light once I close my eyes.
The next day was spent with me reading up on what were supposed to have about this next semester, one of the things that catches my eye was that in potions we will have about Amortentia.
Tom does not have good history with Amortentia due to what happened to his father, so that will probably not be the funniest lesson to say the least.
Other than that I didn’t do much else. I set up the terrarium, gave Asaka some well deserved mice and talked to her about behaving and not attacking anyone unless I tell her to.
Oh and that there is another speaker, Tom Riddle, whom she is not allowed to mention to that I also speak the snake language to. She took that pretty okay.
Now its the first of September and I’m standing on the station, ready to board the train.
A heavy weight slams into my back and it’s right before I face-plant straight into the side of the train.
“Hadrian Cross how dare you try and board the train without me!” A female voice shouts at me. I turn around and there is a very angry Cassandra Black. Hands on her hips, almost like the way Mrs Weasley used to do, with that exact expression she used to have to.
“Cassie, I promise I wasn’t, I was just…gonna wait for you right here,” I say, trying to sound as convincing as possible. She did not believe me and gave me a smack up the back of my head.
I can’t hold it in anymore and laughter escapes me, closely followed by Cassie. She gives me a hug and pushes me onto the train and into the closest compartment. Once we sit down we start laughing again, for absolutely no reason.
“So how have you been then? How’s it been, you know, living with you-know-who?” Cassie asks in a whisper. I find it absolutely hilarious how she calls him You-know-who, and can't help but chuckle a bit at that.
“It’s actually been fine, he didn’t seem to realize who I was and the most shocking part, he was actually properly nice to me. By that I mean he would help put ointment on my back each night before we went to bed. And even more shocking, he asked me to call him Tom,” I say, the last part comes out as a whisper.
Cassie looks at me as if I’ve gone crazy for a second, then in shock and then she burst out into laughter. She bends over and holds her stomach for a while before she calms down. She looks me in the eyes before she says, “So what your saying is that the Tom Riddle, heir of Slytherin, one of the most cold hearted people I have ever meet, helped and cared for you. And on top of that he made you call him Tom,” her voice is stunned the whole time she speaks.
I nod my head at her, finally hearing how crazy that sounds. “Let’s not talk about that anymore,” I say quickly. Cassie tries to interrupt me but I pull out Asaka from my pocket and she quickly closes her mouth, “Look what I got,” I tell her with a smile.
I hold out my hands to her, with my snake wrapped up into a ball in my hands. She looks at her, then at me and then back at her.
“You got a snake…a very venomous snake…” Cassie trails of. I nod at her.
“I did, isn’t she just gorgeous? And her scales are super soft, wanna try and hold her?” I ask in a cherry voice. She shakes her head immediately.
“You sure? She behaves well, she won't attack anyone unless I’ve told her,” I tell her. Cassie is the only one who knows I’m also a parselmouth, so she knows I can talk to snakes. She shakes her head again.
“If you say so, just let me know if you want to thought,” I say before I place Asaka down in my lap.
The rest of the ride to Hogwarts is spent with us talking about what we’ve done this summer and talking about the school year, the last couple hours Cassie sleeps while I read.
A few minutes before we arrive I wake up Cassie so she can change into her uniform. Asaka has wrapped herself around my upper arm under my uniform again, so I just let her stay there. While Cassie changes I wait outside the compartment.
The compartment opens again and Cassie walks out in all her glory, her hair up in a tall ponytail with some new makeup and her uniform on. She wraps her arm around my shoulder and we walk out onto the platform with the other students.
“Ready for a new year of hell?” Cassie whispers in my ear. I laugh and shake my head at her.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I whisper back as we make our way over towards one one of the free carriages.
I let my eyes linger on the Thestrals pulling the carriages before I get on after Cassie. Once on the carriage it begins to move.
The short ride from the station and up to the school is spent in silence, with me reading and Cassie looking out of the window.
Once we stop I walk of first with Cassie following close.
“Wow what a gentleman, perhaps I should reconsider dating your kind,” Cassie say in a sarcastic voice from behind me. I laugh at her comment and shake my head.
“Please don’t, I’d rather not have to break your heart again Cassie,” I say sarcastically, winking at her once she comes into view.
Once inside we head on into the great hall along with the other students.
We sit down with the other fifth years at the Slytherin table and wait for the rest of the tables to fill up.
Cassie sits down in front of me, and on my left I have a girl named Frida and on my right is…Orion Black. Orion is Cassies twin brother, and also a close friend of Tom. He doesn’t often talk with me or Cassie, mainly because I’m a halfblood and because Cassie chose to associate with a halfblood.
The fact that he sat down here means that To- Riddle is also close by.
“Hello dearest sister, how are you this wonderful evening?” Black asks in a joking tone. The fact that he doesn’t often talk with Cassie doesn’t mean he doesn’t like her.
In front of me Cassie rolls her eyes at her brothers tone. “I’m perfectly fine, and you?” Cassie responds in the same joking tone. Black chuckles at her and responds, “I would have been better had you chosen to spend the summer with me, and not alone in France.”
“I was not alone, I spent my summer with auntie Bella. And you could have come with me, but you chose to spend your summer with your boyfriend instead,” Cassie says in a sassy tone. I stifle a laughter threatening to come out and look the other way. Cassie smirks at my reasons and I can feel Black glare into the side of my head.
“He is not my boyfriend you twat,” Black hiss back at Cassie before he turns around and starts talking with someone beside him.
I look up at Cassie and we both try to actively hold in our laughter. We get pulled out of our thought when headmaster Dippet starts talking.
He goes through the same he always does, welcomes everyone back, says some stuff about the school year and then starts the sorting of the first years.
It’s always so nostalgic to watch them get sorted, it reminds me of when I got sorted. Twice. It’s even funnier when they think they have to fight some troll or something, some of them always look like they’re ready to piss their pants up there.
Every time the hat shouts Slytherin our table claps, otherwise we stay quiet. As always there is always a few from Gryffindor who tries to boo when the hat shouts our house, but the headmaster shut them up fairly quick.
Once everyone has been sorted we can finally eat.
Cassie loads some sort of meat, mashed potatoes and greens onto her plate while I stick with mashed potatoes and some greens.
There’s loads of chatter all around us, but for now we both just sit in silence and eat. I eat a few bites and just as always, the food tastes like ash in my mouth. After a few more bites I place the cutlery down on the sides of the plate.
When I look up at Cassie her eyes are turned down on my plate.
A sight leaves my mouth, “Cas, please just leave it. Just this once okay,” I ask her. Her grey eyes meet mine and she looks at me with that familiar look. I can never figure out if its pity or if its worry.
“I thought it would be better after you left them,” Cassie comments.
“Cas that's not how it works,” I look down at the half empty plate, “This kind of stuff takes time okay, its not going to fix itself in only a couple weeks,” I say.
On the inside of my uniform I can feel Asaka move around and lower herself so she’s now wrapped around my lower arm. The feeling makes me happy for some reason, it brings me a tiny bit of comfort.
After this we sit in silence for the rest of the meal until we have to leave.
We walk down to the dungeons with the rest of the Slytherins and walk into the dorm once we get there.
We split up and Cassie heads down to the girls dormitory and I walk up to the boys dormitory. I walk up the stairs and then down the hallway, and once outside my dorm I stop.
On the left side of the doors there is a small wooden plate with five names on it.
Tom Marvolo Riddle
Orion Regulus Black
Abraxas Malfoy
Evan Rosier
Hadrian Cross
Nobody looks at these once you know where you live, but if Tom ever decides to look at them he’s in for a surprise, that's for sure.
I open the door and walk over to the bed furthest away. My bed. Beside me is Rosier and then Black. On the other side of the room is Malfoy and then closes to the door is Tom.
Nobody is going to walk up here just yet, there all down there with the first years talking about the rules and classes and stuff.
I bend down and open my trunk, which is placed in front of my bed. I find the terrarium I got for Asaka and place it on the ground, along with everything else I got for the terrarium. Asaka slithers out onto the ground and up on my bed.
Quickly I begin to set up the terrarium, and once done I push it under the bed. It fits perfectly, and as long as I leave the top open she can come and go as she wish.
"Asaka, what do you think?” I ask the snake, which has now found place on my pillow. She looks over at me and slithers down to the terrarium.
“I like it, its big and spacious, but also has a decent amount of hiding places,” She hisses in response.
“Of course your also allowed to roam the castle, but its still necessary to have a place like this,” I add. She doesn’t respond and quietly makes her way up my leg and finds her place wrapped around my bicep again.
A soft chuckle leaves me while I exit the room. I make my way down to the stairs again and immediately see Cassie sitting at one of the couches.
I make my way over, taking in who else is left in the room. Most first years are still sitting down here, looking a round the room in wonder.
I will admit, I also looked like that the first time I walked in here. It’s a surprisingly nice place, despite its dark colors.
Its high under the roof, with black and dark green staining the walls, but in the middle of the room there is a huge chandelier which casts a softer light into the whole room. One of the walls is covered in a full window which shows of the lake, and which also casts a soft muddy green light into the room.
Along with that most of the furniture, especially the couches and chairs, are black, with pillows of different greens, grays, blacks, silver and a few blue ones here and there. The tables are made of a darker wood, cherry perhaps.
There’s a few mirrors which all have a silver edge, while the few paintings in here either have a darker wooden edge or a silver edge.
In my mind its a pretty cozy place, and I truly like how spacious it is. It’s not that I didn’t like the Gryffindor common room, its just that the Slytherin common room gives everyone the freedom to sit wherever they may like, while Gryffindors common room reminded more of a small, cramped living room.
It doesn’t matter anymore, I’m in Slytherin now.
I walk over to Cassie and plop down in a soft, light green chair beside her. She looks up from her book and shots me a smile. I give a her a small smile back.
“So,” Cassie starts while closing her book, “Who do you think you-know-who will try to recruit this year?” She asks with a chuckle in her voice. I chuckle at the familiar question.
This is something we’ve come to do almost each year by now. Every year we’ve seen Tom get to know the more influential pure bloods in Slytherin, and after third year we started trying to figure out just who he would go for that year.
“Hmm, as far as I know he still doesn’t have every Rosier on his side. He only has Evan Rosier, not Druella so I have a feeling he will try and gain her this time. Who do you think?” I ask back, trying to stifle my laughter.
“Oh I heard there’s a younger Mulciber in his second year now, so I bet he’s gonna get him this year. Mulciber already looks at Riddle as an idol so as long as Riddle talks to the young boy he's gonna follow him like a lost dog anywhere.” Cassie replies while rolling her eyes.
I stifled my laugh at that and let my eyes roam the room.
Riddle and his...friends? have a reserved area in front of the fire place, nobody ever tries to sit there anymore. Of course there is always a first year or two that doesn't get it and ends up being stared down by the group of people.
Today is no different, Riddle placed in his chair with his closest friends sat in a circle around him on the different couches and chairs closest to him.
"Hey Cassie, why don't you come sit with us for a change? Instead of this mudblood you seem to like so much for some reason," a voice says from behind me. Both me and Cassie rolls our eyes at this. Like always, Orion always tries to get Cassie to come sit over with them, thought he only tries to convince her once on the first day of the year.
"I'm perfectly good right where I'm sitting, thank you," Cassie replies back.
"Cassie can you just sit with us this once? If you do I wont try and ask you again okay," Orion says in a pleading tone, or, as pleading as a Black will ever sound.
Cassie shoots me a look. He never tries more than once, so this is new.
"Why?" Cassie demands. A loud sights leaves Orion and he steps forth.
"Tom is asking, so can you please just do me this one favor?" He explains, making sure only Cassie and me can hear him.
Cassie shoots me a look and we have a silent conversation. We both knew he would try and approach her at some point, so at last she nodded and stood up. Orion looked at her with slight shock, but the look on his face quickly changed to one of appreciation.
"You owe me," Cassie hissed at Orion when she passed him.
I watch them with amusement, and when Cassie sits down on one of the loveseats I have to physically hold in the laughter threatening to escape me when I see the look on her face.
A younger girl, probably one of the first years, walk up to Riddle with two girls standing behind her.
"Pardon me Riddle, but is it true that you can speak the language of the snakes?" The young girl asks shyly while glancing up at Riddle.
Riddle looks down at the three girls and surprises everyone when a snake suddenly emerges from his robes and slides down into his open palm.
"I do, would you like a demonstration?" Riddle replies, slowly stroking the dark green and yellow snake in his hand. The three girls look at him with wonder in their eyes and quickly nod their heads.
A few of the other students have suddenly appeared and are now surrounding Riddle and his friends.
"What do you think Onyx, should we scare the children a bit?" Riddle hisses to his snake. The people surrounding him gasp loudly, some look at him with growing curiosity while some take a few steps away from the snake with slight fear on their faces.
This suddenly got a lot more interesting. I rise from the chair I sat in and make my way to one of the unoccupied chairs closer to Riddle.
"Hold your arm out," Riddle commands a younger boys from second year. The boy complies immediately. "Go on Onyx, give them a scare, just don't harm they yeah." Riddle hisses lowly to his snake as he watches her slide over to the boy.
Everyone watches with wide eyes as the snake, Onyx, make its way from person to person. Some look petrified while some watch the snake with wonder. Some slowly stroke it while some stand still as a statue.
Quite a few of the students have now sat down around Riddle, letting the snake roam from person to person.
Finally, after some time it slides up the chair I'm sitting in. I sit still while watching the beautiful snake slide over one of the armrests, and finally up into my palm.
"Hello there, what a gorgeous snake you are," I say, forcing myself to not slip into parseltounge. The snake in my palm watches me with interest.
"Hmm, I like this one, more interesting than the other hatchlings," The snake, Onyx hisses to himself.
"Well too bad for you, this one is mine. Get back to your own master," Asaka suddenly makes her entrance and slides down from his neck to rest on his shoulder. She's clearly not to happy about another snake on me.
"I can take a liking to anyone I wish to," Onyx hisses back.
Asaka curls up tighter and hisses loudly at Onyx, and Onyx replies with snapping his fangs back at her.
"Okay thats enough. Stop it." I say with a stern voice. I softly grab Asaka from my shoulder with my free hand. The both of them continues to hiss at each other.
"Oh for the love of Merlin, stop it you two, your acting like bloody children." I hiss irritated at the two snakes, forcing myself not to slip up.
The two snakes slowly get calmer.
Finally.
"Go on, find someone else to cuddle up to. This one is mine," Asaka hiss at Onyx.
"No, I quite like this one. I'll be staying right here,"Onyx replies, making himself comfortable in my right hand.
Asaka watches the other snake, irritated that it's snuggling up to her master, but she stays quiet. Her master obviously didn't seem to have a problem with the thing.
I finally take notice of how multiple children now sat around me, watching the two snakes in my hands with big eyes. I smiles softly at them and bends down slightly.
"Would anyone like to hold her? She's nice, I promise," I say lightly, holding out Asaka. She watches me with wonder, before slowly stretching out and turning her head to the children watching.
"Can I hold her?" A brave boy finally asks. I shoot him a smile and tell him to come closer, and he does. I hand her over, letting her slide onto the boys hands at her own pace.
As I sit there I watch the people around me pass Asaka around. The all seem more comfortable with her than Onyx, which might just be because she belongs to me and not Riddle.
Something makes its way up my arm, and my eyes follow Onyx as he moves up my arm and makes his way up to my neck. He makes himself comfortable wrapped around my neck loosely. What's the deal with snakes and necks.
He moves his focus down to the books in his lap again, and for a while he sits there reading calmly, that is until he hears Riddle speak up.
"Your not my snake. Where did you come from?" Riddle asked, looking down at the snake resting on his armrest.
"Your stupid snake took my master, now I will take his." The snake replied, sliding down into his lap and curling up.
"What is your name snake?" Riddle asked her.
"Asaka," she hissed back.
"Well then Asaka, mind telling me who your master is so I can return you to your master and I can get my snake back?" Riddle asked the black and red snake in his lap.
The snake looked at him and replied, "No."