Aspire

Marvolo Slytherin sat at his desk silently. He stared down at a small stack of reports he just wrote as he sighed. These people are useless. No one said running a dictatorship would be this hard. Not that he regrets this, heaven knows corrupting the government was easier than fighting in that war. It was just a slight matter of faking ‘Lord Voldemort’s’ death, then he could rise in the ministry as quickly as possible. It didn’t take that long seeing as he still had all of his ex-follower's influence and power. Was it worth it though? He starts to question, thinking of the paperwork that sits on his desk at home. He also can’t forget about the trip to Hogwarts he has tomorrow, simply to check in with the professors, shake their hands, and most likely pose for some photos. All that publicity needs some ‘charity’ work for the media. And, as a plus, he will also check up secretly with his ‘son’.

Tom Riddle, Slytherin head boy. It was his diary Horcrux, who had sent the last 4 decades begging to be let out due to boredom. Marvolo Slytherin, ever the most generous and modest Lord of all time, let him out to go ‘spy’ in Hogwarts. Tom, of course, jumped at the chance and well, now he has climbed the social ladders and ranks at Hogwarts and is now preparing to join the Ministry.

If Marvolo allows it. If needed, he could just return his son to the diary, and claim he ran away from all the pressure of having the Minister of Magic as his ‘father’. But that is the worst case scenario. But he had prepared it as an outcome because knowing his younger self, he would be disappointed but unsurprised if Tom rebelled and tried to overthrow him. His 17 year old self. Gosh, what a time to remember. He presented as an Alpha in his 6th year, so Tom would be dealing with his first ruts and whatnot right about now. What an awkward time to be meeting him. Obviously Tom would be aware that Marvolo knows what's going on for him right now. Mm, that would be a delightful conversation- that he would NOT be having. Tom can sort everything out himself. He doesn’t have the time, patience, or effort to deal with his 17 year old self right now.

Or ever, really.

But-

Maybe his younger self found an Omega- A young girl, with both political power, (Not that Tom would need that seeing as he already has the Slytherin anime under his belt, let alone the fact his father is the Minister) Well, of course, Marvolo wouldn’t allow that. Straight back to the diary if he wants to fool around with these unhelpful ‘urges’. Not that it was likely anyway. Marvolo himself never did, so Tom wouldn’t either.

Now enough of this- Lucius just gave him a report on the new law about illegal Dragon breeding in western Europe

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Tom sat at his desk quietly. He leaned back on his chair as his eyes flickered through a large scroll of parchment he just wrote. He reached into his bookbag that was tucked under his legs and pulled out a small bar of muggle dark chocolate.

His biggest secret. He craves the bitter melting taste of it- such a bad habit, Tom scolds himself as he savours the taste. He reached down again, glancing around the library to take another piece as he hears a loud noise.

“BANG!” Tom whips around quickly, pointing his wand in the face of the intruder, his mouth open, ready to shoot curses at- A first year? A tiny one at that. A boy, barely up to the height of Tom’s ears, ignoring the fact Tom was sitting on a rather low chair.

“I- I am so sorry, I-” The boy muttered, looking around, his hands grasping each other, his teeth biting his lip slightly. Tom scowled externally yet felt the Alpha in him growl slightly in protection at this poor, obviously helpless boy.

“Well-” Tom started, his sentence unfinished as he gasped. Tom looked into this young child’s eyes.

Green.

So beautiful.

Emerald green, brighter than all the stars. Or even better, Slytherin green, the colour that decorated Tom’s own robes, the colour of Tom’s heritage.

“What’s your name?” Tom heard his mouth ask, still caught up in the boy's gorgeous wide eyes.

“Harry- Harry Potter,” The boy- Harry responded. Harry Potter? The boy who deflected the killing curse his older self sent at him? He had heard taht potter was starting this year, but he didn’t expect him to be so fragile, so… adorable, Tom thought.

“House?” Tom asked, curling his lip as he felt his eyes trace the boy’s facial features. So soft and delicate. The kind of beauty that belongs to Omega’s, Tom’s mind supplied. “Gryffindor,” Potter responded, looking at his feet. Gryffindor. Well, no surprise there.

“5 points from Gryffindor for disturbing the silence in the library. If I catch or hear that you do it again, you will be getting a detention,” Tom muttered, still staring at Potter.

“Sorry,” the boy said again, his eyes watering. Tom felt himself rush to reassure his boy that it’s okay.

“Don’t be, everyone makes mistakes. Are you wanting to do some homework?” Tom felt himself ask. His boy nodded, his wild dark curls bounced slightly.

“Come here,” Tom cooed, indicating for Harry to sit at the opposite chair to him at his desk. Potter flushed as he snuggled slightly into the chair.

“You may study there,” Tom firmly said, his tone making it obvious it wasn’t an option, that he had to sit there. Harry nodded again as he bent down to pull his book out of his own book bag.

Quidditch through the ages, Tom read the cover upside down.

Hmm. His boy is reading a book on a useless sport. Well, he can change that.

“Read this.” Tom demanded, shoving a small book into Harry’s hands. It was Tom’s own copy of first-year transfigurations. Harry looked at Tom questioningly.

“You will need to know this stuff for this year, so you might as well get a head start and surpass your classmates and impress your professor,” Tom said, drawing his eyes to Nagini, who he spotted as she popped her head out of Tom’s bookbag.

He had put her in there an hour or so, when she fell asleep.

“Stay in there,” Tom really quietly hissed to her in parseltounge, not wanting her to scare Harry.

“Stay in where?” Tom heard Harry ask, looking at Tom. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t talking to you-”

Tom cut himself off with a strangled gasp. Potter was a parselmouth? He could understand what Tom just said? He was of Slytherin heritage too? Or something else? He needed to tell his older self this information as soon as possible, was this something to do with deflecting the killing curse? Or was the Potter line somehow in contact with the Gaunts? How was that possible- Tom frowned as he saw Harry still looking at him.

“You understand me?” Tom hissed, staring straight at Harry. Looking into his mind for a second, he saw a flash of understanding flood into his brain.

“Um, yeah?” Harry hissed, the sound going straight to Tom’s groin. Tom would flush, thinking about that moment later, but in his defense, it was his first time hearing a human other than his older self communicate in parseltounge.

“We are speaking in parseltounge, Harry. Listen close for the hisses,” Tom cooed back in the serpent's tongue, his lip curled up in pleasure.

“What? Oh! We are hissing!” Harry delightfully exclaimed, smiling so widely Tom was worried his face might split.

“Parseltounge is the mother language of snakes, very few can speak it,” Tom said, not wanting to let Harry know just how rare it is.

“Not everyone could speak to snakes?” Harry asked, tilting his head like a puppy.

“No, but you can’t let anyone know, it’s a big secret if you can,” Tom said, also placing a nonverbal and wandless compulsion charm on his not to do so as well. Not that Tom thought he would anyway. Never a bad thing to be careful though.

“Okay!” Harry exclaimed, still grinning widely, no doubt happy about his secret language.

Tom really has to let his ‘father’ know about this as soon as possible. He needs to keep Potter close, at least for now, that's for sure.

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