Different worlds

Tom looked through the carriage window as the terrain moved passed them. He didn't want to ask any questions mainly cause he was sure they'd reach deaf ears. Y/N had been quiet since they got off the train almost half an hour ago. He would glance over at her a few times to see her staring out the opposite window.

They stayed in scilence for a few more minutes before the carriage took a sharp turn towards the water. Tom looked to see why the carriage at turned but saw nothing, they were just running at water. The carriage sped up and ran between two sets of trees before slowing down. He looked out the window again to see they were riding along a wide, stone path and pulling up to the side of a home.

One the carriage came to a halt Y/N opened the door, much to the dismay of the coach, and hopped out, not wasting a second to unload their stuff.

Tom stepped out the carriage and took a second to take in his surroundings, he mainly focused on the trees they ran through that got them where they were. "Cloaking spell, the Ministry wished for this place to remain hidden." Tom nodded his head when hearing that and decided to analyze everything else.

There was a large front yard filled with various plants and trees. A stone pathway framed by trees lead up to the front of the manor. It was made of white bricks with red bricks acting as accents. The house itself appeared ro be three stories tall, the second floor appearing much smaller than the ground and first. Tom looked at the red tiled roof and the large chimneys that arose from it.

Looking back at the grounds itself, he noticed a building separate from the house. It looked to be two stories tall and made of darker red bricks, with three large doors that stretch from floor to ceiling one of side of the building. "That's the coach house." Tom looked at Y/N who seemed to notice him staring. "It's where the carriages and their respective coaches stay when they aren't needed...there's room for 4 coaches to live there, but I really just need the one."

Tom didn't really know what to say. Did he ever expect to be in the presence of a home this nice? No not at all. He was certain he was gonna live in the orphanage until he was too old and then buy a small, rundown flat until he could afford an actual home. He levitated his luggage and stepped back as the carriage retreated to the coach house, one of the large doors opening for the carriage to enter.

Y/N walked over to him and lightly tapped his shoulder, getting his attention immediately, "don't worry, it was a little overwhelming for me too." She tried to reassure him with a smile and looked back at the manor. "The house has been rebuilt over and over over the course of my family history. Last time it was rebuilt was with my grandparents during the Victorian era..."

"And you know all of this, how?" This was all he could really manage to say. There was a lot he wished to ask about her family, one of them being how the hell they could afford to build such a large estate if they all ended up dying in prison...or why they chose to built such an elaborate house.

"There a record of each time the house was destroyed and rebuilt hidden in the study. My family detailed what was destroyed and everything that was changed each time." She nudged Tom a little and began walking towards the front entrance. "C'mon, I'll be sure to give you a tour once we get settled in."

The two entered through the door and Y/N set down her stuff, prompting Tom to do the same. Once their stuff was down, Tom took the time to examine the reception area they were now standing in. There were two doors on each side of him and a fireplace standing beside the door on his right. The walls were decorated with paintings and photos from various time periods, all leading to a straight hallway that had an archway entrance to the staircase that would lead to the first floor. Tom stepped towards the fireplace and examined some of the photos, the ones closest to the fireplace were family portraits and photos.

"Lady L/N!" The two stopped at watched as a house elf appeared from a hall Tom assumed was right beside the staircase. The house elf ran right up to Y/N and bowed to her. "Welcome home, I'm glad to see you made it back safe."

"Hello Jippey, lovely to see you again." She lightly tapped the elf's head, prompting the elf to stop bowing and properly look at her. "Are the others upstairs?"

"Tolrey is tending to the gardens. Rolley is helping Zonbey in the kitchen. The others are awaiting tasks upstairs." The elf stood still and waiting for a response from Y/N, who hummed and nodded her head, Jippey turning away from her and spotting Tom by the fireplace. "You must be Lady Y/N's friend." Jippey bowed her head to Tom and straightened back up immediately.

"Uhhh....hello?" Tom had seem house elves around Hogwarts, but none of them had really paid him any mind, let alone the amount of respect the elf had just shown Y/N. He looked up at Y/N for assistance as he was clueless on what he was doing.

"Tom, this is Jippey. She's in charge of ensuring the estate stays spotless." Y/N walks over to Tom and stands beside him, "Jippey, this is Tom Riddle, he will be staying with us for break. Please ensure that he feels welcomed."

To that the elf bowed again, this time at Tom, "welcome to the L/N Estate Sir."

Tom watched as the elf didn't move a muscle, becoming even more confused on what to do. Y/N chuckled at this and lightly tapped Jippey's head again, prompting the elf to cease bowing. "Jippey, can you ask some of the others to help take our things upstairs?"

Jippey nodded her head and ran upstairs to presumably get others when Y/N had tapped her shoulder.

Tom cleared his throat and gestured to the area around him when Y/N looked his way. "Could've given me a heads up you're family came from wealth."

"Tom, I'm friends with purebloods that stem from wealth. You think they'd spend time with me if I didn't?"

"I don't stem from wealth and those same people spend time with me."

Y/N rolled her eyes and looked towards the staircase when she heard more of her house elves. The six new elves ran to her feet and bowed their heads as greetings. "Thank you for the greetings. Can you guys help Tom and I with our stuff?" Their heads looked up so they could see the two separate stacks of luggage. She gently tapped on three of the elves and they moved to go pick up her stuff and carried it away. Once she knew they were completely upstairs, she let out a gentle hum and the remaining three moved to grab Tom's items, "be careful, I'm sure their are fragile things in their." The elves nod and carefully make their way up the stairs.

Tom watched the elves leave with his stuff, feeling a little entrusting that they'll actually be careful. He turns to look at Y/N who still has her eyes on the staircase. "How many house elves do you have?"

"Hm?" She looks at him and thinks to herself, trying to count in her head. "I believe I have fourteen, unless I counted wrong. Some had belonged to my parents and were placed back in my care."

"And what's with the..." He clicked his tongue while trying to think of the right word "uhh...tapping?" He lightly taps her head to make a point with his question.

"My family supposedly trained their elves through sound and touch. I tap their heads when they greet me to signal they may stop bowing. I tap their arms when they may be dismissed ans carry about their day and hum when they are dismissed to carry out a task I assigned them."

Tom nodded his head rather slowly, "any other surprised 'Lady L/N'?"

"Aght-, only my elves may address me as such. I won't hesitate to move you to the Coach House." Y/N brushes herself off and took Tom's hand. "The elves will come find us when they're done getting everything settled. Which means I owe you a tour."

Tom wasn't in any position to argue and lets Y/N drag him through the reception hall and into a small hallway right of the staircase. They quickly walk through the hallway and pass through a door to their left, where they enter the kitchen.

"Lady Y/N, welcome home." The smaller house elf jumps away from the counter he was standing at and bows, head gently placed on the floor.

Y/N smiles and walks over to the counter where two cups are resting, "where Rolley?"

"She's in the pantry. Rolley wanted to greet you with a warn drink and needs to add one more thing."

Y/N moves back over to the elf and gently taps his head. The elf sits up and looks at Y/N, "thank you Zonbey, I'll let you get back to your work." She taps the elf's shoulder and he stands to move back over to the counter he was working at.

Tom walks over to the breakfast table set on the other side of the kitchen and seats himself, taking in the room. The walls and kitchen counter tops are all white with blue accenting, but the tables and chairs were all oak wood with blue, plaid seat cushions. There was another fireplace that seemingly separated the kitchen and breakfast area and the right corner of the room had a little door that Tom wasn't sure where it lead. He heard another door open and looked across him to see another house elf enter from right next to where some of the cabinets were...he assumed that was the pantry.

The elf had noticed Y/N and almost completely dropped the items in its hand from surprise. "Lady L/N!! You're early!" The elf's voice was seemingly paniced "Rolley hasn't finished preparing your drink yet-" The house elf had used its free hand and repeatedly hit itself in the head, scolding itself.

"Rolley-" Y/N tapped her elf's shoulder and furrowed her brows at her, "it's okay, Zonbey told me you're adding the finishing touches?" She watched as the elf warily nodded and she smiled warmly, "good, we're in no rush. Please take your time." She tapped the elf again before walking over to where Tom was and sitting beside him.

"Is she okay?" Tom watched as the elf nervously stood over the two cups

Y/N looked at the elf, concern seeping into her voice. "She is...she's one if the few my parents owned. They were very keen on punctuality and punished the elves when they weren't fast enough for their standards." She sighed and craned her neck to look at the fireplace to her left. "I've done my best to help them feel safer, but it's not easy breaking those old habits of theirs."

Tom hummed and watched as the house elf brought over the two cups and set it in front of them. "Here you are Lady Y/N, and for you too, Sir." Rolley stood there patiently awaiting the reaction from the two.

Y/N gratefully accepted her drink and took a sip before placing it neatly back on the saucer that held it. She looked over at Tom, who seemed more skeptical. "Don't worry, you'll like it, I promise."

Tom picked up the cup and lightly smelled it; tea. He wasn't a huge fan of any kind of caffeine, but he would still drink it. Whenever he did he always preferred it a very specific way. He blew on it lightly and took a small sip, completely shock to have it taste the way he prefers it to a tee.

"Lady Y/N had informed us how you preferred your tea and coffee so you could enjoy it here." Tom looked at the elf, who still seemed really nervous and let out a satisfied hum.

Y/N took that reaction and placed light kiss to Rolley's forehead, "thank you dear, I greatly appreciate it, you may rest until dinner." She tapped the elf's shoulder and the elf very happily scurried to the door that's destination was unknown to Tom. Y/N took another sip of her tea and smiled. "Rolley stays in the Coach house, she's going through the garden in hopes of sharing with Tolrey."

"Sharing that you...kissed her head?" Tom set his tea aside and tilted his head and Y/N, confused at to what she meant.

"I rewarded her for doing something good, each elf is rewarded differently, Rolley recieves kissed whenever she does something good." Y/N set down her tea as well and looked over to Tom, "would you like to see the study?"

Hearing that completely piqued his interest, Tom was intrigued what her study would look like. Would it resemble the library at Hogwarts, would it be more unique to her? He nodded his head and watched Y/N stand up, her cup in her hand; the saucer remaining on the table. Tom picked up him cup, also leaving his saucer behind and stood at well following Y/N back into the hallway.

They walked to the other side of the staircase and through the door leading to the library/study. The first thing Tom spotted was the dark wood desk right across from him that sat right beside the window. Directly to his left was another door, and he spotted a second door on the opposite side of that same wall. Between those two doors was a shelf filled with books, which he didn't really take the time to examine. To the right of the desk was another fully filled bookshelf with a sofa arm resting right underneath it. The sofa was L-shaped with a white, ivy print chair laid to the right of its arm and a plain wooden chair at its left. Right infront of the sofa was a coffee table, all residing over a red rug and resting before another fireplace.

"How had this place not burned down with all the fireplaces?"

Y/N shrugged and set her cup down on the table to their right, which looked like it used to have been a minibar. "It's not like we have all the fires started at once." She watched as Tom finally started walking around the room, taking the time to read every book spine he sees. "I haven't been able to spend too much time in here, but I figure you could read in here or in your room."

Tom hummed and quickly pointed at each of the doors he see. From what he can tell, there's four: the door they entered, the two in the left wall, and another door beside the fireplace.

Y/N point at the door right next to where they entered, "store room," she pointed at the other door on that wall, "drawing room," she pointed at the door beside the fireplace "boiler room." She took a sip of her tea. "The room in the kitchen you were focused on for a bit was the boot room, it leads down to the cellar, garden, and has a staircase leading upstairs."

Tom opened the door to the drawing room and peaked in. He hummed to himself and closed the door, going back to exploring the library.

Y/N walked over to him and held his arm, resting her chin on his shoulder. It was just the two of them, so she knew he wouldn't try to argue with her. Even then he was too busy analyzing every book her family had ever possessed. "What do you think?"

"It's...nice" He keeps reading the book spines, "feels random to be standing in such a nice home, but I don't hate it." Tom looks down slightly at Y/N, who seemed to also be looking at the books. "Have you been able to read any of these?"

"Maybe one or two, I was only here for a week and spent more time meeting house elves and setting up my room than actually exploring the house."

"How is it for you? After years of living with caretakers that probably weren't qualified to raise a child."

Y/N snickered at that comment, "They definitely weren't qualified to raise a kid, none of them had any of their own." She carefully tightened her grip on his arm, drawing it closer to her, "it feels surreal...this is the home I was supposed to grow up in, but life had other plans."

"Technically the Ministry did, I doubt they needed fourteen years to search this place."

She simply shrugged before letting go and walking towards the couch, laying down and staring at the ceiling. "Even so, they would've needed someone to raise me. My father was an only child and my mother broke contact with her family after getting married, there was no one willing to raise me except the caretakers, and they can't live off Azkaban property."

There was a brief knock on the door that drew them out of their conversation, the door opened to reveal Jippey, who walks over to Tom and stands a small distance from him, "your room is ready, Sir."

Tom looks down at the house elf and gives a small nod, "uh, thank you?"

Jippey smiles and nods, waving her hand towards her as she turns to walk away, gesturing for him to follow.

Tom looks over to Y/N, who has made no effort to move, "you coming?"

Y/N let's out a small laugh and shakes her head, "to your room? No. You can unpack and get settled, I'll come get you when it's time to eat." She waves him off and lays back down.

***

He can't wrap his head around this. He looked back at the elves time and time again to see if they messed up. From the size of the room alone, this shouldn't be his. He looked for two more seconds before being able to completely confirm this is the principal bedroom, which should make it Y/N's, not his.

"Is something wrong, Sir?" One of the elves looked at Tom, seeing he was confused, "Do you not like it?"

"No, no, it's...nice but-" he took a second to sound more certain of himself, "are you positive I'm supposed to be staying in a principal bedroom? Shouldn't Y/N be staying here?"

The house elf shook its head, "Lady Y/N requested you stay here." The elf opened the door further and pointed to the door right across the hall, "Lady Y/N is staying in there."

Tom nodded to the elves and thanked them, watching as they left his room. He looked at the light grey walls with gold paneling, the crystal chandelier that hung above his bed, the curtains that were almost long enough to go floor to ceiling. He tapped at the dark oak canopy bed frame and the bench that laid at the foot of the bed. He wasnt sure what the other room had that made Y/N give up this one, but he wasn't about to complain.

He decided he'd ask her about it later, but for now he wishes to unpack some of his stuff. He took out his wand that had been safely placed in his inner pocket and waved it, prompting some of his cases to open and the contents to float around him. He took his time making sure his things were neatly placed where he wanted them, that the clothes he brought were hung up and folded, and took the time to examine that nothing appeared broken or tampered with.

It took him maybe half an hour to set up his room. He looked around one last time to make sure everything was perfect before falling onto the bed. They had been traveling all day and Tom has had to maintain some sense of social skills throughout all of it. He placed his forearm over his eyes and took a moment to relax, he wasn't sure how much time he had before he'd be told to eat, but he wanted at least 5 minutes to lay down.

He wasn't sure how much time past, but he slowly opened his eyes after hearing light tapping on his door, which was apparently still opened. He groggily raised his head to see Y/N standing in the doorway, "I'm guessing it's time to eat?"

Y/N nodded her head, an amused smile on her face, "How was your nap?"

He sat at the edge of the bed and stretched his arms out before fully standing up, "depends, how long was I asleep?"

"An hour, give or take. The elves debated waking you up the first place." Y/N moved out the way so Tom could exit the room and followed her down the stairs.

Y/N led him back to the reception hall and into the dining room through the small door residing by the fireplace. The room itself wasn't too extravagant, the walls were a pristine white with sage green curtains that were currently closed. The dark wood table in the center could fit 14 people, which Tom felt was a bit extreme seeing as Y/N most likely never ate in this room until now. The two sat across from eachother where there had already been plates and silverware set with food laid out in the middle section of the table.

Y/N smiled to the house elf beside her and tapped their shoulder, sending them off before looking out at the food before her. The two, for the most part, ate in scilence occasionally talking about various topics. Y/N finished first and wiped herself off with her napkin, she stood up and moved to sit in the end chair beside Tom.

Almost immediately, an elf came in and picked up her plates, Y/N tapping them off and waving. "Why did you change your room?" Tom broke their lapse of scilence with a question that had been bugging him since he was shown his room almost three hours ago. He watched as Y/N blinked cluelessly at him, not understanding what he meant. "The elves said you moved your room from the principal bedroom while I'm here, why?"

Y/N let out a silent 'oh' and stayed with her mouth in a small o shape for a few seconds before speaking, "Is there something wrong with it?"

"No. Nothing wrong, I'm just confused."

"Well it wasn't to stroke your ego if that's what you were hoping for. I like the second room a little better than the principal one, so I'm willing to trade it when I have guests over."

"What could be so intriguing about it?"

"Guess you'll have to find out." She stood up from the chair and walked behind Tom, gently squeezing his shoulder while walking past. "I'm heading to sleep, it's been a long day for the both of us and I didn't get a nap in." She stopped at the door just before she turned the know and looked back, "Goodnight, Tom"

"Night." He waved her off before going back to picking at his food. It wasn't much longer before he was also fast asleep himself.

○○○

"Are you sure your father put the right address? There's been not a single thing for ages." Draco slumped in the coachless carriage, eyeing Mattheo, who was staring put the window.

"It's was the address says, doubt he'd mess it up if we're looking for something important." Mattheo closes the curtain the the window and turned to see Draco glaring at him. "Also, quit complaining, you chose to come along."

"All my family ever does is yell and eachother and critique me. I'll choose useless carriage ride over that any day. If only this stupid carriage was taking us someone useful." Draco smacked the door to the carriage and recrossed his arms. A second later the carriage took a sharp turn and ran off the road and towards the water.

"Malfoy, what the hell did you do?!" Mattheo jumped at the sudden shift and opened the curtain again, to see the carriage running straight towards two trees. "Brace yourself!"

The two tensed up and braced for the feeling of a collision but recieved so such response. Rather the two felt the carriage slow down and eventually come to a complete halt. Draco yelped a little at the sudden sound from the door opening from the outside and looked to see a house elf standing before them.

The two watched as the elf looked tense and seemed to stare off to the side at something in front of the carriage, before turning back. "W-welcome"

"Uhhh....hello?" Mattheo stepped out first and greeted the house elf, unsure where he was. He then looked to see the house before him. "Woah...."

Draco hopped out and adjusted his blazer and tie, "Stupid carriage"

"Sir. Riddle?" The elf looks at Mattheo and falls to the floor, immediately bowing it's head.

"What?" mattheo looks at the elf, not fully sure how to respond or react by any means. "I think you have the wrong person."

The house elf shook her head but never looks up. "No, no. Jippey never forgets one of Lady Y/N's friends."

"Lady Y/N?" Draco nudges the house elf with his shoe, "this home belonged to the L/N Family?"