Toma
Harry sat in the quiet street of Hogsmeade. The Christmas year was coming by fast and most families stayed home to stay with their families to celebrate the holiday.
Usually he too would be at the burrow celebrating along with the Weasleys, but an urgent letter from the new minister Kingsley Shacklebolt had pulled him away from the warm comfort of the burrow.
Other than the letter, another reason for Harry’s reluctance to join them was the heavy feeling in his heart whenever he stepped foot in their house.
The war was over. Harry had killed the piece of Voldemort’s soul that lingered in his body. And with Nagini gone from Neville’s blade, He finally manages to kill Voldemort. Ending the long-suffering the wizarding world had endured.
The war is over but without many sacrifices made throughout his life. His first was his parents whom he could not remember as he was just a mere baby. Then Cedric, who had stood bravely defending Harry at the graveyard. His godfather, Sirius, who he had barely spent enough time to get to know him had slipped from his fingers.
Then Hedwig.
Moody.
Dobby.
Fred.
Remus.
Tonks.
One by one, they had fallen in the hope that Harry, their savior, would manage to kill the man who craved control.
The war is supposed to be over, but why can’t he move on?
Sirius had given him Grimmauld's place before his passing. Along with all the Black fortune that was left for him. Living in Grimmauld alone was strange. He was supposed to live here with Sirius. The day Hagrid took him away was supposed to take him away from the pain he endured from the Dursleys. Only to be met with misery as he continues to live.
As weird as it was, Grimmauld was supposed to be his home. And he will make it his home in honor of the life he should’ve had. He renovated the place just as Sirius would have wanted. He got rid of all the spiders loitering around just to make sure Ron wouldn’t scream at random corners. He gives more light to the library so Hermione can find warmth and comfort in the books she loves. She hangs up weird herbs and trinkets to get rid of the nargles Luna had told him. He charmed the backyard to ensure no muggles could see Ginny flying around with her broom. He fixed up a child’s bedroom in case Andromeda needed him to take care of Teddy.
He continued his work until it became what he always dreamed of.
Despite this, his family and friends had their problems to deal with and couldn’t visit often. Hermione was still trying to find her parents and Ron came with her. The Weasleys were still mourning Fred’s absence. Andromeda was trying to get back into parenting Teddy to be the gentleman he would grow up to be. Luna was doing her own thing as the war had distracted her from taking care of the creatures that surrounded her house.
He shouldn’t feel alone. They will come back into his life when it is all over. And when that day comes, Harry will go back to the way he was.
The hero's ending.
Just as it should be.
Harry snapped out of his daze when he heard snow crunching from the distance. He put up the warming charm again as he realized it started to wear off. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Kingsley approaching figure. Beside him, is a young child.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Potter. Hopefully, you didn’t wait long.” Kingsley said in greeting as he sat beside him. The child, as he noticed, was looking around their surroundings. The child ended up playing with the husky dog Harry had brought along with him.
“Who’s the kid?” Harry asked, ignoring Kingsley’s greeting.
“We found him in an orphanage in Romania. Caused quite a scare for all the other muggle children with his show of magic. With everything that’s happened, I decided to investigate every burst of magic that happens in muggle areas.”
“Yeah, but why you? You said he’s from Romania, so why didn’t the Romanian ministry deal with the kid?”
Kingsley sat in silence for a while, contemplating an answer to give him. “The Unspeakables had brought forward a piece of prophecy that… concerns me, Mr. Potter,” Kingsley looked at the child again who had now managed to ride on top of the husky. “We believe that child has something to do with it. So we went there to get him to a safe place.”
Harry followed Kingsley’s gaze at the child. He looked…. familiar.
Something about this child invokes the long-forgotten fear he pushed down in the crevices of his brain. The black hair and all too pale skin. The almost emotionless state the child’s face seems to be in. The way the child's gaze finally lands on Harry, his clear red eyes analyzing and calculating Harry’s every move. If he weren’t a child, Harry might have believed this kid to be a skilled legilimens.
“Toma, come here.” The kid, Toma, got down on the dog and approached the 2 adults. He didn’t say a single word, which was honestly starting to freak him out.
Toma’s red eyes landed on Harry once again. A piece of his hair was out of place after playing with the dog. Harry reached out to smooth out his black hair, but as he first made contact, the magic that resides within the child had reacted so intensely to his own.
He pulled away so fast, his face stricken with horror as the last residue of the child's magic left him. He recognizes this magic signature. It had haunted him since he was 11 years old. It had lingered in his body for so long that it mixed with his own. It had washed a sense of relief when the man had died in front of him, his magic disappearing with him.
The same magic had come back, in the form of a child in front of him.
“Is this Voldemort?!” He raised his voice, making the child flinch away from him and getting closer to Kingsley.
“Shit! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Harry tried comforting the child but pulled back when he remembered who it was.
Had he gone insane? Did he try to comfort the one being that ruined his life?
“He is no longer Voldemort. You had killed him on the battlefield and he will never come back. But his magic is harder to extinguish. As much as I hate to admit it, he was truly a powerful wizard. And that kind of magic is harder to leave this world, especially if it was unwilling to go.”
“I know this might be a burden on you, Mr. Potter. But it is in the wizarding world's best interest that you will be the one to take care of him.”
“Wait! Hold on for a minute!” Harry exclaimed as he rubbed his face trying to get all this information in. “I’m supposed to take care of a child that is, supposedly, a reincarnation of Voldemort himself because of what? I’m the chosen one? That I had defeated him? Good luck with that because I will not be responsible for a child all of a sudden. Especially if it’s mini Voldemort.”
Harry didn’t want this. Aside from being scared shitless of the kid, he wanted to have a normal life. He was one of the few who would be returning to 8th year to finish his studies. And then, well, live his life. Get a job that he likes. Meet his soulmate. Start a family together. All the normal stuff everyone gets to have.
And that would be impossible with mini Voldemort on the side.
Kingsley sighed as if he knew what Harry’s reaction would be. “After all you went through, I- I mean, we believe you are the best fit in raising him. I’ve read his history from when he was a child and throughout adulthood. And believe me Mr. Potter, the ministry isn’t the best place for him. The other ministers cannot know of his existence either.”
He knew what Kingsley was implying. He had seen the once young Tom Riddle himself too. If he had been raised differently… well, maybe none of this would have happened. And this now mini Voldemort would have ended up the same way under the ministry’s hands.
He doesn’t want that.
“What about me? I’m starting 8th year soon, and I don’t think it’d be wise for me to bring a child along with me to Hogwarts.”
“I’ll deal with it. I’ll talk to Professor McGonagall about your situation. I will send you a letter with the details soon once I’m finished. For now, you should bring him back to Grimmauld. Get to know him.”
After exchanging a few words with each other, Kingsley finally left Harry with mini Voldemort who seemed to start getting attached to his husky. Now alone, he doesn’t know what to start with mini Voldemort.
Maybe he should start by not calling him mini Voldemort.
“Hey, we haven’t introduced ourselves. My name is Harry, what’s yours?”
“Toma.” At least he had an actual child voice.
“Come on then Toma. Let’s get somewhere warm.” Harry held out his arm for Toma to grab. He stops himself from flinching when Toma’s smaller hands hold onto his, feeling their magic once again share its power.
During the walk home, Toma got tired and asked quietly if Harry could carry him. Harry didn’t have it in him to reject his request and soon carried Toma on his back. A few seconds later, he could hear Toma’s soft snoring on his shoulder.
Harry didn’t expect to be thrust into fatherhood so soon
-
His usual routine wasn’t disrupted that much after taking Toma in. He just cooked extra food and bathed more than himself. One thing that surprised him about Toma was that he was quite clingy. Every night, he would sleep in Harry’s room just so someone could hold him as he slept. After remembering what young Tom was like at the orphanage, he concluded that Toma might have experienced the same treatment in his orphanage.
Coldness and abandonment.
Just like the Dursleys.
Harry shook his head, promising himself that he wouldn’t go down into that deep hole of thoughts and try getting some sleep. Toma’s head was lying on his chest and he hoped he didn’t catch Harry’s sudden rapid heartbeat. He focused on the extra small warmth beside him and found comfort as he soon found himself in his dreams.
It was the same place he had ended up in when he first fell in the forbidden forest. The white brightness of King Cross almost hurts his eyes and an almost eerie silence that always comes in a place like this.
Just like before, Dumbledore stood there too.
“I see you’ve managed to get into a pickle again. I’m almost relieved that it wasn’t my doing.” Dream Dumbledore said as Harry finally recognized his presence.
“Professor, I don’t know what to do.” Harry said almost desperately. Aside from Toma being the reincarnation of the thing that once controlled him, Toma was also a child.
And he had never had a good childhood.
“You might find offense in my words, but even you have noticed how similar your past is to that of Tom Riddle.” Dumbledore chuckled when Harry made a sound in his throat. “It’s true and you know it.”
“Tom Riddle may have forgotten as the darkness started to consume him. But I knew what his one deepest wish was when I found him in that orphanage all those years ago.”
“And what is that professor?”
Dumbledore looked at Harry with a twinkle in his eyes, “I had promised a vow of secrecy.”
Harry groaned once again at one of Dumbledore’s many riddles.
“I know you will make that world for him even if I don’t tell you. You have grown into a good man.”
In the distance, he can hear his alarm starting to ring, which means he will leave soon from this mysterious place. He started walking in the other direction to wake up. Before the light consumes him, he can hear Dumbledore’s words echo in the distance.
“Give him lots of hugs.”