Echoes of Yesterday

“Ron, shut up…five more minutes..”

“Unfortunately, this cannot wait five more minutes, Lord Potter.”

Harry cracked an eye open, and suddenly, every part of his body was aching. Why was it so bright? Why was he lying on the floor? And who was talking to him? He sat up and finally observed his surroundings. The hauntingly white version of what looked like King’s Cross station stared back at him. He was suddenly hit with a sense of familiarity, having been in this exact ghostly station a few years back. So this was limbo for him then?

He must have died again if he was here. Oh yes, he had fallen through the veil - what in the fuck was he thinking?- and had died. With the Horcrux in him destroyed and Voldemort dead, this death was surely permanent. How embarrassing, honestly, dying at Voldemort’s hand would’ve been less humiliating than that. 

He should be more bothered by this than he actually was, he really should, he was dead for fuck’s sake and this time there was no dark lord’s Horcrux to save him. 

“Lord Potter, have you composed yourself yet? I wish to chat.”

“Yeah, I guess. Who are you?”

Harry looked the tall man -creature?- up and down. The cloaked figure in front of him sort of resembled a dementor but without the whole air of despair that came with those depressing creatures Harry knew all too well. The thing spoke to him but Harry could see no mouth, no eyes, no face, just darkness. The figure was draped in a black cloak, which covered everything but the skeleton-like fingers that peeked out from its sleeves.

“Death greets you, Lord Potter, for it is inevitable we meet again.”

“Death? Like death death? You’re an entity?”

“It is baffling how much you don’t know with how much you’re capable of.”

Harry looked at Death -it certainly needs a cough drop judging by its hoarse voice-  incredulously, and sighed. Harry didn’t know what he was gonna do with his non-life.”Well uh, I'm assuming you’re here to take me to whatever afterlife I'm supposed to go to then?” Harry scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“No, there are many things to settle and your premature death is not one of them. For you have reunited the hallows, the title of ‘Master of Death’ has been bestowed upon you. There are many things you don’t know Lord Potter, a past of significant importance which you have forgotten, and now Death shall help you remember.”

“Huh? Wh-” Harry cut himself off as he was suddenly engulfed in blinding light, he couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel, his senses overwhelmed. His head ached as he was bombarded with memories of a past long forgotten.

“Hey! Riddle, was it?” Anastasius watched his best friend’s eye twitch as a pretty blonde boy came up next to them. It was Abraxas Malfoy, anyone could recognise the distinct Malfoy blonde hair and he certainly had the bone structure to match the high status his family held in wizarding society. Anastasius looked at Tom again, who was now conversing with said blonde boy

“ Like I had said multiple times before, Malfoy, Ana has no interest in being your ‘friend’ now sod off!” Tom’s voice was stable and calm, yet his tone was dripping with venom. Friends? Malfoy wanted to be friends? Why wouldn’t Tom agree, the both of them needed friends anyway.

“It’s alright, I’ll be your friend, Malfoy,” Anastasius said, watching as Malfoy’s face lit up with triumph and Tom snapped his head back to look at him.

“Ana…”

“What Tom? I would love to have other friends.” Tom looked like he wanted to say something but shut up and gave him a look which said “We’ll talk about this later” instead. Meanwhile, Malfoy swiftly moved from Tom’s side to his “So, you’re Anastasius right? I’m Malfoy, but you can call me Abraxas.” Abraxas leaned in and introduced himself, ignoring Tom’s glare burning holes into his side.

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Hogwarts’ great hall was refurbished with the festive decorations one would see on Christmas each year. The walls were lined with tall decorated trees, enchanted wreaths and sparkling Christmas lights hung on the wall beside them. Despite the magically enchanted ceiling which showed glistening snowflakes falling from the morning sky, disappearing before they touched any of the hall’s occupants, the hall was ever warm and inviting. 

Anastius always liked spending the holidays at Hogwarts, anything was better than returning to Wool’s and freezing to death. He knew Tom agreed as well as he watched his friend leisurely stroll into the great hall. The hall was relatively empty, the majority of students having gone back to spend their holidays with their families.

“Happy holidays Tom.” Anastasius greeted Tom as he sat down, watching his childhood friend crack a warm smile and then proceeded to drink a mouthful of coffee. Anastasius took a bite of his pastry and observed Tom, the sixteen year old really drank too much coffee.

Tom noticed his staring and smiled at him warmly -god the bastard was too handsome for his own good- before offering him a sip of his drink. “Want to try some, darling? I can see the curiosity in your eyes.”

Anastasius sipped on the black liquid and immediately regretted it, cringing at the bitter taste that flooded his mouth. Which psycho drank straight black coffee at seven in the morning? 

____________________________________________________________________________

Anastasius watched Abraxas saunter into the Slytherin common room, something that looked like a small black box in his hands. What was the man up to now?

“What’cha got there ‘braxas?” Anastasius asked, unable to contain his curiosity. Abraxas smirked and slid onto the seat beside his on the couch.

“It’s a camera, father got it for me when we went to St. Tropez during summer break. You can take pictures using it and it prints out a physical copy. Neat, isn’t it?” Abraxas turned the camera in his hand, showing it off.

“Oh a camera, muggles use those too but I have never seen one which is able to print out physical copies.” Anastasius leaned in to get a closer look, mesmerised by the advanced technology in Abraxas’ hands.

Abraxas scoffed “Of course the muggles’ technology isn’t as advanced as ours. Father paid quite a bit for this as well, said I deserved it for my good academic performance.”

“I haven’t used it yet, I plan to use it to take photos of our time here at Hogwarts. This is our last few months here before we have to take our N.E.W.T.s and I quite enjoy my friendship with you and Riddle, I would like something to remember it by.”

“What are you two doing?” Tom -speak of the devil-  appeared behind them.

“Tom, Abraxas’ got a camera. Look how cool it is!”

____________________________________________________________________________

Ms Cole was out on one of her mysterious errands again and that means Anastasius gets to sneak out of the orphanage. The evening was beautiful, it’d be a waste not to spend it outside.

“New spot, darling?” Tom followed his friend down a grassy hill, the route unfamiliar to him.

“Yep! I found a nice spot for us when I took a new route to get to Mdm Margaret’s yesterday.” Anastasius looked back at Tom and the fading structure of Wool’s in the distance behind him.

The spot they had settled on was a grassy patch of land, beside a bush of pretty white flowers,  just opposite Mdm Margaret’s house. With the absence of trees, Anastasius could feel the cooling evening breeze against his face, through his hair. The warm glow the setting sun casted on the field made him a bit sleepy. He leaned his head on Tom’s shoulder when the taller boy sat down beside him.

It was peaceful, just the two of them and the muffled sounds of civilization behind them. It was peaceful indeed…until Tom sneezed and didn’t stop sneezing. Tom had never sneezed like that before. Was it allergies? No way he was allergic to the grass right?

“Sorry, no idea why that happened,” Tom said, rubbing his nose.

“I didn’t know you had allergies. This hasn’t happened before.” Anastasius said, more amused than he should be.

Tom shrugged, “I do not have any allergies that I'm aware of, this might be something new. “

Anastasius looked around. “Since we’re in a field, could it be you’re allergic to the flora here?"

“That could be true, I might have a slight pollen allergy as well,” Tom answered.

Anastasius spotted the flower bush they were sitting next to, could that be what Tom was allergic to? He plucked one flower and waved it in front of the taller boy’s face, watching his friend sneeze.

“Aha! Found it, I can’t believe you’re allergic to such a pretty flower, Tom!” Anastasius laughed as Tom eyed the flower with disdain.

“That’s a honeysuckle, I have never seen any growing near Wool’s, but then again nothing pretty grows near that horrid building.” Tom rolled his eyes at the last part.

“Well then, next time you make me mad I’ll sure be picking a few extra honeysuckles for you!”

____________________________________________________________________________

Tom Riddle often liked to visit the astronomy tower whenever it rained heavily. He liked watching the rain come down in sheets, like a relentless curtain of water. The pitter-patter of water created a rhythmic, drumming symphony that soothed his soul. The world outside blurred into a grey haze, occasionally illuminated by the streaks of lightning splitting the sky.

Now, Tom stood next to one green-eyed boy, sharing the serenity of rain with him. The sky churned like a pot of boiling ink as heavy clouds gathered Heavy clouds gathered as Tom and Anastasius stood under the protective shelter the astronomy tower brought. 

Tom has always loved thunderstorms, mesmerised by the fleeting streaks of lightning, often watching through the windows of his room at Wool’s. He loved everything from the fresh scent of earth to the rain that softened the world, turning everything into but a muffled dream.

Tom delighted in sharing these moments with his darling, he loved hearing the content sigh from his Ana’s lips, the way he would lean his body against Tom’s, his head against the taller boy’s shoulder. But, alas, all good things come to an end as heard soft footsteps echoing behind them.

“My lord, I hope I’m not intruding.” Abraxas Malfoy emerged from the shadows.

Tom scowled, as Malfoy’s sudden appearance shifted Anastasius’ focus, the boy leaving Tom’s side in favour of turning to look at Malfoy. Tom smirked internally though, satisfaction washing over him at hearing Malfoy referring to him as ‘my lord’. It was a recent development that he had started telling his knights to refer to him as such when in private. 

There was something magical about forcing someone as prideful as a Malfoy to bow down to halfblood like him. Tom was incredibly smug when Abraxas first submitted to him during one of the secret meetings he held for his knights in the come and go room. The same Abraxas Malfoy who had looked down upon him in first year for being a filthy mudblood before he had found out about his heritage, now bowing down to him like the servant he was.

“What do you want Abraxas? Pray tell what was so important that you decided to disturb us.” Tom said, patience wearing thin. Why was the idiot still staring at him?

“Come on Tom, no need to be rude. I’m more than happy for Abraxas to join us.” Tom turned to look at his darling. Why would his Ana even enjoy the company of that bigoted idiot? Someone like Malfoy didn’t deserve to have his darling’s attention. 

Tom yet again ran into the problem of not being able to deny Ana anything, the green-eyed boy had him wrapped tightly around his finger. “Very well, you may join us. We will discuss whatever you came here to discuss later.”

Tom watched as his darling turned his pretty eyes on Malfoy before asking, “Abraxas, have you the camera on you? I feel now is a good time for another photo. The rain is beautiful, is it not?”

Tom watched as Malfoy pulled the small camera from his robe pocket. Yes, now would indeed be a good time for a photo. He would be delighted to have a photo of his darling to remember this day by. Good to know Malfoy was useful for at least something.

He watched as Malfoy pressed a few buttons and got the gadget working. He pulled his darling close to him as Malfoy took the photo. The camera did not flash like their muggle counterparts did but it did make a soft click sound. The image that was produced was then handed to his Ana, whose eyes lit up when he saw the image in his hands. Tom leaned over to take a look.

The image moved like all the other magically produced images. Tom could see pouring rain in the background, him and Malfoy’s smiling faces and his darling grinning between the both of them. Yes, Tom would definitely be keeping this photo.