Juxtaposition

“Ah, Mr Peverell. It’s wonderful to see you.” He smiled, picking up a sweet from the bowl on his desk.
“Professor, you wanted to see me? The portrait said immediately. I hope I didn't do anything wrong.”
“Nothing of the sort, my boy. Sugar cube?”
Sugar cube? Why on Earth would Harry want a sugar cube?
“Mm, no thanks.”
“I just wanted to check up on you. We don’t get many transfer students, you see.”
“That’s it? The portrait made it sound like it was a massive deal.”
“Apologies,” Dumbledore laughed.
“I wanted to talk to you about how you are feeling, since your parents died.” Dumbledore said bluntly.
“Oh. You really…got straight to it, didn’t you? Well, with all due respect, Professor, I don’t exactly feel comfortable talking about it. I don’t know you.”
He didn’t know this version of Dumbledore.
“Right.” Dumbledore nodded, trying to make eye contact. Harry looked away quickly, in response.
“Can I go now?”
“Just one more thing- be careful around Tom Riddle.”
Was he joking?
“Why?”
“I don’t want you getting indoctrinated into his little group. He isn’t as he may seem.”
“I’m sorry? He hasn’t done anything wrong.”
At least not yet. Harry didn’t understand why he was defending Riddle, but he was.
“I suppose you’re right. Do be careful, you are quite a bright student.”
“If I wasn’t a bright student, would you care?”
“Of course!” Dumbledore said defensively.
Harry stood up and left. He was done with Dumbledore now. He didn’t understand why Dumbledore was alienating Tom, instead of offering help. Of course Harry understood what Tom would become, but maybe that could’ve been prevented if Dumbledore had stepped in and offered the boy help instead of pushing him away.

To Harry’s knowledge, Tom hadn’t even done anything yet. He hadn’t opened the Chamber, which meant he hadn’t killed Myrtle.

Arriving back into his dorm, he could hear faint words coming from his trunk.
“Stupid Hadrian. Why did I bother?” It called, and Harry opened the trunk to see his snake. His snake. His snake that was supposed to be at his house.
“Anakin!” He whispered, annoyed and disbelieving.
“Finally.” Anakin hissed, slithering out of Harry’s trunk immediately.
“Don’t you give me attitude.” Harry said, picking up the snake, sitting into his bed and closing the curtains.
Harry could hear himself breathing once he realised the silencing charm was working.
“What in Merlin’s name are you doing in my trunk?”
“I wanted to come with you.”
“Oh, Merlin. I’m imagining this. Please tell me I’m imagining this.” Harry pleaded, pinching himself multiple times.
“I know. My presence is so ethereal that it makes you think you are dreaming.”
“I can’t believe you are here! How?”
“Are you daft? I got into your trunk.”
“How is one small snake so annoying?”
“I am not small. Take that back.” Anakin hissed, narrowing his small eyes.
“What if I don’t?” Harry’s lips quirked up smugly.
“What if I go and bite someone?” Anakin countered, looking smug himself.
“Don’t do that,” Harry’s eyes widened, snatching his wand out from his pocket
Anakin hissed some Harry couldn’t understand before slithering away. Harry trusted the snake not to be stupid, even if the snake was just threatening it.

Trying to ignore what just happened with Anakin, Harry walked back into the common room with his transfiguration homework. He had to write two scrolls about how non verbal spells worked and how wands helped assist the flow of magic when casting spells.

Finding a quiet corner, Harry settled down to work on his assignment. The common room was abuzz with activity, but the ambient noise became a distant hum as he delved into his research. Transfiguration, the art of changing the form or appearance of an object, had always intrigued him, even if it often gave him a headache.

As he wrote, Harry’s mind wandered back to the encounter with Dumbledore. The warning about Tom Riddle lingered, casting a shadow over the otherwise routine task. Why did Dumbledore seem so concerned about Riddle? Harry knew the older version of the Dark Lord was a menace, but this younger incarnation hadn’t shown his true colours yet.
Lost in thought, Harry failed to notice the approach of Abraxas Malfoy until the boy spoke up. “Peverell?”
Harry looked up, meeting Abraxas’s scrutinising gaze. “Can I help you with something?”
“I wanted to know the spell you used to win against Tom.”
“Why would I tell you?”
“Because I’m your friend..?”
“You are? I was never told.”
“I would appreciate it if we could take a walk, and you could at least explain exactly what the spell did.”
“I don’t owe you anything, Abraxas.” Harry shrugged,
It didn’t feel right to use Malfoy instead of Abraxas. It felt like it was reserved for Draco.
“I suppose we could take a walk, then? I have noticed you aren’t particularly keen on becoming friends with anyone.”
“And you think you’re the exception?”
“You are rather rude, did you know that?”
“I’ve been told,” Harry replied, a hint of amusement in his tone. Despite his reluctance, he found himself walking alongside Abraxas through the dimly lit corridors of Hogwarts.

As they strolled, Abraxas apparently couldn’t resist the temptation to pry. “So, about that spell. What exactly did it do?”
Harry sighed, deciding to provide a vague explanation. “It’s a protective charm, absorbs and reflects spells. Nothing too extraordinary.”
Harry was certainly downplaying the spell, and how difficult it was to perform, but Abraxas didn’t need to know anything.
Abraxas raised an eyebrow. “Protective charm? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“That’s because it’s not common,” Harry replied cryptically, unwilling to divulge the true nature of the spell.
Abraxas glanced at him curiously. “You’re a mysterious one, Peverell.”
“I have my reasons,” Harry said, his gaze focused on the path ahead.

The conversation shifted, and Harry found himself learning more about Abraxas’s background, the intricacies of Slytherin house politics, and the unspoken rules that governed relationships within the wizarding world.

As they continued walking, Harry couldn’t shake off the feeling that this seemingly casual encounter held more significance than it appeared. Abraxas’s questions about the duel and the protective charm were undoubtedly motivated by more than mere curiosity.

Eventually, they reached an ornate balcony that overlooked the Hogwarts grounds. The moon cast a silvery glow, creating a tranquil ambiance. Harry leaned against the railing, looking out into the night.
Abraxas broke the silence. “You know, Peverell, Slytherin house values ambition. Aligning yourself with the right people can make a significant difference.”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting I align myself with Riddle?”
Abraxas hesitated, choosing his words carefully. “Tom is going places. It might be beneficial to have him as an ally.”
“I’m not interested in power games,” Harry said firmly.
Abraxas studied him for a moment before nodding. “Fair enough. Just remember, Hogwarts can be a challenging place. It’s wise to navigate its complexities with a friend or two.”
“I don’t need friends. I work better on my own.”

With that, the conversation tapered off, and Harry found himself alone on the balcony, he studied the stars. It was a beautiful night out, and the moon was full and bright.
“Ah, Peverell. Doing some late night Astronomy?” Tom Riddle’s voice echoed through the balcony of the tower.
He appeared out of the darkness, very similar to the preserved memory in the Chamber all those years ago.
“What do you want?”
“I am merely doing my duties as a prefect, and you are out of bed: breaking rules.”
“Hardly. I didn’t even know it was time for the curfew.”
“Perhaps you should practise a spell to tell the time, Tempus is quite easy. I suppose I could teach you, if you desired.”
Harry stayed quiet, and if he had eyes that shot lasers, Riddle would be nothing but a pile of ash.
“Detention, tomorrow night, and 15 points from Slytherin for poor time management.” Tom smiled evilly.
“Why would you take points from your own house?” Harry muttered as he walked away.
“I am nothing if not fair.”
“I am nothing if not fair,” Harry mocked with a horrible impression of Riddle while turning around a corner. He was pretty sure Riddle wouldn’t have been able to hear him, but he also didn’t care.
‘What a pretentious asshole’ Harry thought to himself.

Turning around another corner, he heard the familiar hissing of Anakin.
“Green eyes?” Anakin hissed, turning his head up to meet Harry’s.
“What an affectionate nickname,” Harry rolled his eyes, “Now come here.”
He picked Anakin up, much to Anakin’s chagrin. Anakin coiled around his arm and Harry started to walk quicker, even more desperate to get back to the common room.

Harry smiled awkwardly at Druella as he bolted for the dormitory. She looked at him curiously and as if she wanted to say something, but Harry was gone by the time she could even open her mouth.

In the dormitory, Harry found himself grateful for the solitude. He carefully placed Anakin on his bed, and the snake seemed to settle, content to observe the room with its beady eyes.
“I’m going into the common room, stay here.” Harry whispered to Anakin, who didn’t even spare a glance at him.

Harry sat down next to Druella, who seemed to be practising a few non verbal charms.
“Hello Druella,” He smiled, watching her wand emit blue sparks.
She lowered her wand and turned her head, “Hadrian, how are you?”
“Riddle just gave me a detention.”
“He definitely takes his prefect role seriously, to be honest, it’s like he constantly has a stick up his ass.”
Harry laughed, and Druella shot him a worried look, “Don’t tell him I said that.”
Harry nodded, “Promise.”
“Druella, I need help with a spell.” Orion Black called out, walking out of the fifth year boys dorm room.
Druella sighed and turned towards Orion, who looked almost embarrassed.
“Come sit,” Druella patted the seat next to her, which was opposite Harry.
Orion pulled out his wand and sat promptly, “It’s deletrius. I just can’t do it.”
“I was rubbish at that spell too, Hadrian?”
“Er, sure, I can help.” Harry answered hesitantly.
Harry knew he could probably do the spell non verbally, but since Orion wasn’t learning them yet, he performed it normally, “Deletrius,”
He pointed his wand at the small cup of quills in the middle of the table and watched as one of the quills disintegrated.
“Can you show me what I am doing wrong?” Orion asked before saying the incantation. The quill partially disintegrated, but most of it looked untouched.
“You need to move your wrist more, it needs to be more relaxed.” Harry advised, watching Orion’s hand.
Orion tried the spell once again, and it actually worked, “I can’t believe that is all I had to do,” he said looking down at the pen, “Sorry for bothering you.”
“It’s fine, Orion.” Harry assured

Later, in the dormitory, Anakin's presence offered a bizarre comfort. The snake's unbothered demeanour contrasted with the chaos in Harry's mind. Anakin's silent companionship strangely eased his nerves. He opened up the journal he bought when he first arrived and began writing. It wasn’t like he could tell anyone else this information, so writing it down and protecting the journal heavily was all that he could do to keep himself sane. He had written down his goals, what had worked, what hadn’t and just how he feels.
He had written about his encounter with Death, and ways he found to contact Death without actually dying again. He wasn’t sure if they worked yet, but he did intend to find out. As Harry wrote down everything, and he meant everything, he could feel his mind becoming clearer, as if he was using Occlumency. Harry wrote about his friends, Sirius, Remus, what happened to his parents, and more. Anything he could think of went in the journal, and honestly a lot of it was useless, but it just felt good to get it out of his head.

Harry was fairly sure Riddle hadn’t opened the Chamber of Secrets yet, but during dinner the next day, he got there early, keeping a lookout for Myrtle Warren. He knew she was a Ravenclaw and would most likely be in 3rd year this year. He carefully watched each group that came into the hall, looking for the girl.
After it looked like the Ravenclaw table was filled up, Harry sighed and got up from his seat. He pardoned himself and swiftly left the Great Hall and began the journey to the Slytherin common room. He didn’t feel hungry anyway.

“You’re so ugly, it's a wonder that someone wants to be friends with you!”
“Yeah. Maybe you should buy some beauty potions, oh wait, you can’t even afford it!”
Harry heard girls snickering and immediately changed directions to see what exactly was going on. His eyes widened at the scene of three Ravenclaw girls bullying a very much alive Myrtle.
“Leave her alone.” Harry shouted, un-pocketing his wand. He didn’t care if they were just insecure little girls, their actions would (If Harry didn’t stop it) eventually lead to Myrtle’s death.
The three girls turned to him and raised their wands, “Mind your own business!” One of them called back. Harry kept his wand trained on them as he got closer to Myrtle. He extended his hand, which Myrtle took quickly.
“I suggest you leave her be, or you’ll have to deal with me.” Harry’s tone was firm, and by their reaction, quite scary. He never thought he was the type to scare others, though.
“Why are you helping her? You’re too handsome to be hanging out with someone like her.”
“Someone like her?” Harry asked. He understood what they were implying.
“Yeah. A Mudblood.” The third girl spat.
Harry could feel his heartbeat accelerate, and his breathing became laboured, “Don’t call her that.”
He stepped forward, positioning himself between Myrtle and the Ravenclaw girls. The tension in the corridor escalated, and the hostile glares were exchanged like silent spells.
The leader of the trio, a girl with sharp features and an air of arrogance, sneered. "What's it to you, Peverell? She's just a filthy Mudblood. We're just having some fun."
Harry's grip on his wand tightened, and a surge of anger coursed through him, “Fuck off before I hex you.”

The Ravenclaw girls hesitated, sizing up Harry. His reputation, bolstered by the recent duel with Riddle, seemed to have reached even the Ravenclaw tables. The leader exchanged a glance with her friends and decided to retreat, muttering insults under their breath.
Harry watched them leave, ensuring they were out of earshot. He then turned his attention to Myrtle, who seemed both relieved and surprised. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Myrtle nodded, her eyes wide with gratitude. "Thank you. No one's ever stood up for me before."
"Nobody should be treated that way. It's not right," Harry replied, his voice softening.
Myrtle looked down, a bit embarrassed. "I'm used to it. It happens all the time."
"Well, it shouldn't," Harry insisted. "If you ever need help, find me. I'll be around."
“Maybe you could teach me a couple of spells sometime? If you’re not busy?” Myrtle asked, her face reddening.
Harry supposed it would be a good idea, so then he wouldn’t have to keep coming to help her.
“Yeah, sure.” He agreed, putting his wand back into his pocket, “How about Saturday? Meet me at the Astronomy Tower.”
“What time?” Myrtle asked, tucking strands of her hair behind her ear.
“After breakfast,”
Myrtle nodded before turning the other direction and waving goodbye. Harry gave a small smile before walking off.

Walking into the potions classroom where he was supposed to be serving his detention, Harry felt himself go cold at the sight of Riddle patiently sitting at one of the tables.
“Ah, welcome to detention, Hadrian.” Tom smiled.
Harry ignored him and looked at the piece of paper next to Tom, “Are these my tasks?”
“Obviously. I hope you are literate.” Tom picked up the paper and handed it to Harry.
Harry rolled his eyes, “Where’s the professor?”
“I asked to supervise. Headmaster Dippet was very disappointed that you got a detention within your first week, by the way.”
“Good to know.” Harry muttered, looking at his tasks. He had to clean cauldrons - without magic, wipe down all of the tables where students worked, and mark down the stock of the ingredients.
He moved to where Slughorn’s cauldrons were stored, and carefully pulled them out, placing them in a line to easily clean each one.
“Would you like any help?” Tom asked, which surprised Harry. Teachers never helped the students in detention, but Riddle wasn’t a teacher. He was, however, an egotistical maniac.
“Thanks.” Harry said through gritted teeth.
“You have a funny way of making ‘thank you’ sound like ‘drop dead’,” Tom remarked, seemingly amused.
“It’s a gift.” Harry’s voice was flat as he scrubbed the cauldron.
Harry couldn’t help but scrub slower, as he was becoming increasingly aware of Tom’s presence next to him.

When they finished cleaning the cauldrons, Harry moved on to wiping down the tables. Tom followed suit, leaning against one of the tables and watching Harry work.

“What made you transfer to Hogwarts, anyway? Surely Durmstrang had its charms.” Tom’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“It did, but I heard Hogwarts had a pest problem,” Harry retorted, shooting a meaningful glance at Tom.
Tom chuckled. “So, you came to exterminate the pests?”
“More like one pest, but yeah, pretty much like that,” Harry said, “I didn’t really want to travel to Northern Europe either, but the pests were the main reason.”

Harry couldn’t wait to be finished with the detention. He hated being near Riddle, knowing what he had become.

During the rest of the detention, Harry noticed Riddle becoming more quiet. He was thankful, but he didn’t know why. Maybe Riddle was a robot and just turned off after a certain time.
“Riddle? Where’s the Dragon Blood kept?”
Harry didn’t really want to converse with Riddle, but it was deemed necessary to finish his jobs.
Looking over at Riddle, Harry’s curiosity grew. Riddle was just staring off into the distance, like he was detached from his body.
Harry loudly moved towards Riddle, trying to snap the prefect out of his daze. Cursing, Harry snapped his fingers and startled the boy.
“Merlin, Hadrian. What?” Riddle asked, rubbing his temple.
“Where’s the Dragon Blood kept?” Harry asked impatiently.
Riddle scoffed and got up from his stool, walking over to a small cupboard near the back of the classroom. Harry followed and opened the cupboard, mentally counting how many vials were stored in there.

Marking off the last thing on the list, Harry breathed slowly, greatful the detention was over. Harry reluctantly walked alongside Riddle back to the dorm, their footsteps syncing up.
Riddle said the password, but motioned for Harry to enter first. Apparently Riddle was still motivated to put on his cliché gentleman act.

Collapsing onto his bed, he felt the familiar warmth of Anakin slithering onto his chest and underneath his duvet.

Opening his eyes, he blinked multiple times before noting the shadowy figure in front of him. A grin settled on Harry’s face, “Death,”