Rebirth

The next morning he sat at the Ravenclaw table, he didn't know where Tom was, he had managed to get up without waking him and he left before everyone else. He helped himself to the omelette, telling himself that he would meet Tom some time before their first classes. He was soon joined by Ron who sat down next to him, roughly pushing Padma from where she was sitting. He watched him put his bag on the floor and help himself without grace to everything that was on the table, like before finally, except that now, he didn't find it funny. Probably because he was an adult now.

“Hey buddy, slept well?” Ron asked, his mouth full of meat.

“We’re not friends.” Harry replied.

At that moment, he wondered how he managed to become friends with someone so different from him. He was extroverted, not very studious, jealous, without manners. He wasn't a model person but he figured that was because he didn't want to lose his friendship with Ron more than the real him. After Hogwarts all the behavior that linked them had disappeared from his side.

"It's a shame you're not a Gryffindor, but it could have been worse. You could have been sorted into Slytherin." Ron continued as if Harry had said nothing.

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" he asked even though he knew the answer.

"They're all bad. All the men who were on the side of you know who were in Slytherin." Ron replied offended that Harry didn't know that.

"That's not true, Merlin was a Slytherin. And as I remember, Barty Crouch Jr was a Ravenclaw, and was very close to Vold-" Harry started to explain before being cut off by Ron who was now horrified.

“Don’t say his name!” Ron shouted.

"He's dead, saying his name doesn't do any harm." He commented, shrugging his shoulders.

“You managed to push him away, not kill him.” Ron retorted.

The sentence made him uncomfortable, it wasn't Ron's words but Dumbledore's. Which made him think...

"You said Dumbledore told you we'd be friends, if I remember correctly. Why did you say that?" he asked innocently.

“Because it’s true! We are destined for great things, for a great story!” Ron exclaimed, stars in his eyes.

"I'll stop you right now. I'm not planning on causing any trouble, I'm here to study." Harry retorted, which was true... In party after all he always had the gift of bringing problems to himself.

Ron looked at him, taken aback.

"What? You're a hero, why would you want to study?" Ron asked jokingly.

"Unlike you, I know nothing about the magical world, and I want to take advantage of Hogwarts to do what I'm supposed to do, learn." Harry half lied, he's lived a long life in the wizarding world, he must know more than half the students here.

A huge book fell between him and Ron with a thud. Looking at who it was coming from he saw Tom looking down on Ron. He sat down between them, forcing Ron to stand, and began eating scrambled eggs and bread.

"Who do you think You Are?" Ron asked angrily as he walked to the other seat next to Harry.

Tom took the sleeve of his sweater, stopping him in his tracks. Giving Ron a look of disgust.

“What exactly are you planning to do?” Tom asked retortically.

“Sit next to my friend.” Ron replied, slurring "my friend."

Tom looked him up and down before looking back at him. Harry was now between two choices, his former best friend or his soulmate, and he already knew that he couldn't choose both without it creating a war. He closed his eyes briefly.

"I told you we're not friends, Weasley. I'd like to enjoy breakfast with MY friend." He admitted after a second of thought.

Ron seemed to be boiling inside like a teapot, he stormed off, screaming that it wasn't fair. Tom puffed out his chest with pride at having been chosen.

“Can I sit with you?” asked a shaky and unsure voice.

Turning around he saw Neville, holding Trevor in his hands. Harry looked at Tom who wasn't against the idea, as he pointed to the empty seat next to Harry. What shocked him, if it was him, was that people who seemed weak and timid were not the kind of people he liked. His expression must have reflected his shock because Tom whispered in his ear.

“He also has no parents, I thought you would like us to help each other.”

He was impressed, and it left him with more questions about who he was. Voldemort would never even entertain the idea of such a gesture.
Neville gently placed Trevor on the table and discreetly took some food, as if afraid of disturbing.

"Your name is Neville, right? Enchanted Harry!" He introduced himself with a big smile.

"Delighted." Neville greeted, surprised that his name was remembered.

“You seem in a better mood than yesterday, was that due to the stress of the first day of school?” he asked, to start a discussion.

"Yes... And no. I lost my toad. It was Tom who found it for me." Neville explained, still nervous.

So there. If it's Voldemort he wondered what Slytherin did to him. It was the most out of character action that anyone could witness. Looking at Tom he could see that he was immersed in a book, one hand hiding his face. For him kindness must be an act of weakness and therefore doing one was not something he would like to brag about.

"You still don't look okay though." Tom said coldly from his book.

"I-I'm a little stressed from classes. No one in my family believed I'd be at Hogwarts until I got the letter." Neville admitted, digging through his food.

"You're not as bad as you think, it's probably because you lack self-confidence." Harry comforted.

And it was true, once Neville had gained confidence he had become a much better wizard. The problem was that it came quite late and after he got his own wand. And changing his grandmother's mind should have been as easy as petting a dragon.

“You’ve never seen me on a broom.” Tried to make fun of Neville without depth.

If he had already seen it and indeed it wasn't glorious.

“Me and Tom have never flown on a broomstick. So we’re not going to be glorious either.” Harry tried.

Neville smiled without warmth but appreciated the attempt. Fortunately Gryffindors and Ravenclaws rarely take classes together, and flying lessons were not one of them. He didn't know about Tom but even in his first life he had been good from the first class, if Neville saw him it would discourage him.

"It's potions class that scares me the most." Neville admitted, looking out of the corner of his eye at Professor Snape.

Harry wanted to laugh but refrained. Snape wasn't the best teacher, at least in his behavior, he preferred to traumatize students who couldn't do it rather than help them. He himself had to endure his lessons and Neville it was worse. His worst fear was Professor Snape instead of Lestrange who tortured his parents, that says a lot.

“I’m not ready either.” Harry whispered, reviewing all his first year lessons.

"I didn't have the chance to meet you my first years, welcome to Ravenclaw." Flitwick announced with a big smile.

Harry returned the professor's smile, pointing out that Tom was still immersed in his book. He wanted to shake him out of his stupor but the professor ignored him, appreciating the studiousness of one of his students.

“Here are your schedules, I hope your first day here goes well.” The professor continued happily.

Harry thanked him and took his schedule and watched as Neville left for the Gryffindor table to collect his. They started with potion... Great. Then they would go to transfiguration then spell and end the day with defense. He had forgotten that the schedule in the first years was light.

He finished eating and left for their first potions classes, hoping that it would go better than his real first time in potions.

He leaned against the wall next to the potion door. He placed his bag on the ground and had a start of fear when he saw Tom looking at him without emotion. He hadn't heard him following him, and yet with his previous jobs he was on the lookout for every little noise. He caught his breath and calmed the beating of his heart which was panicking, he will have to learn to get used to it again. He took the potions book and flipped through it so as not to be caught off guard. He had a hard time getting used to the almost ghostly presence next to him.

"What?" he asked Tom who hadn't moved a bit.

"Nothing." He replied in a neutral tone.

Harry looked at him skeptically but said nothing more and resumed reading. At least he tried, the insistent gaze of the person next to him distracted him. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Tom who was looking over his shoulder at his book. He handed it to him, no longer having the motivation to read it. Tom took it without question and handed Harry to sit on the floor. He still wasn't sure about anything and he didn't know how to answer his questions. All he knew was that Voldemort existed, his past was the same, and the events he had no impact on were the same. At least he had already experienced the events and he won't be caught off guard, well apart from the behavior of his former best friend. He didn't know if it was because he was old or if there was really a difference there. It was complicated to know.

A few other students arrived in front of the room, which forced him to do this. It was only Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, now he'll have to get used to doing classes with them. It will, at least, be calmer than with the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. He never understood why they put two enemy houses together for classes and expected tensions to ease.

Snape arrived several minutes later, letting them inside. He moved into the room in the same dramatic manner, causing his robes to fly around him. He turned, facing the class. He stared at each of the students intensely, causing some to look down. His gaze lingered on him for a few seconds longer than the others.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and rigorous art of brewing potions." He announced as during his first year.
"Here, we don't have fun waving magic wands, so I expect that you don't understand much about the beauty of a cauldron gently bubbling while letting out sparkling swirls, nor the delicacy of a liquid which insinuates itself into the veins of a man to gradually bewitch his mind and imprison his senses... I could teach you to bottle glory, to distill greatness, and even to lock up Death in a bottle if you were anything other than one of those gangs of pickles I usually teach to,” he continued, his voice barely above a whisper.

It was exactly the same speech to the letter. He hoped that in this life he would have better luck in potions and that there would therefore be differences with his old life. Glancing at Tom he could see that he took Snape's last words as a challenge to be the best student in his class, which is behavior he expected. After all Voldemort had been the best student at Hogwarts, if it was the same person, it would certainly happen again.

“Potter!” Snape said suddenly.

Harry turned back to him, knowing full well what happened next.

“What do I get when I add powdered asphodel root to an infusion of mugwort?” Snape asked with slight contempt in his voice, expecting him not to know the answer.

To his great astonishment Tom did not move as Hermione had done, raising his arm like a cannonball wanting to show off his knowledge. Instead Tom looked around the room taking note of every detail.

"It makes a powerful sleeping pill, also called the Draught of Living Death , professor." He announced hesitantly to appear humble.

Snape's eyebrows furrowed slightly and he straightened up before continuing his questions, thinking it was simple luck.

“And where would you go if I asked you to bring me a bezoar?”

“I would go and find a stone in a goat’s stomach.” he continued.

Everyone looked at him in astonishment, well everyone except Tom who continued to look around, now examining the shelves against the walls. Snape was lost in thought not knowing what to infer from this. Harry hoped that he would no longer consider him as a copy of his father but more as his mother, which would give him peace of mind for his schooling.

“The difference between napel and wolfsbane?”

"It's the same plant, professor, it's also called aconite." he finished, knowing it was the last question.

Snape gave one last look in his direction, with an unknown emotion. He returned to his office quickly before turning back towards the room where all the students were just amazed.

“What are you waiting for taking note?” Snape asked in a cold tone.

The sound of rustling feathers on the parchment was heard the next second. He divided the students into twos and had them prepare a potion intended to treat boils. He was with Tom who hadn't spoken since the beginning of the class and who was cutting the ingredients automatically as if he had been doing it all his life. Probably, Harry thought, an orphanage was like a large family in operation, so the children had to have chores to do and cooking had to be one of them. Meanwhile Snape passed among the students, his long cloak flying as he passed, observing the weighing, cutting and crushing of the ingredients while giving sharp remarks to the students, except to him and Tom in astonishment. It was strange not to receive any comments from him, and even more so regarding Tom who he didn't know and yet no comments.

The class went without a hitch, no cauldron melted or exploded. It was nice not to have Snape behind his back and to blame him for everything bad that happened.

"Before we let you go, 10 points for Ravenclaw. And don't forget your homework for the next class." Snape announced before letting the students leave.

Harry stopped abruptly in his movements for a brief moment before continuing, hoping he hadn't attracted anyone's attention. Snape giving points to houses other than Slytherin was new. Afterwards he had never had potions lessons with any other house than Slytherin so perhaps it wasn't that surprising. But it was him who received it, that was new. He almost wanted to touch Snape's forehead to see if he was sick or going crazy. But it would be him who would seem crazy. He left the classroom, Tom on his heels heading towards their first Transfiguration lessons.

"Transfiguration is one of the most dangerous and complex forms of magic you will ever study. Anyone who causes a disturbance during my classes will be immediately dismissed and prohibited from returning. You have been warned." Professor McGonagall began once all the students were seated.

Just like Snape, she managed to captivate her entire audience before her cutting off all the sound. She then transformed her desk into a pig before returning it to its original form. The demonstration caused a few students to exclaim and quickly took out their wands to begin the lesson. Harry knew that they would quickly face a wall; the subject was, as Professor McGonagall had announced, a very complicated class.

The teacher gave complex explanations of the exercise to be carried out: changing a match into a needle. Now that he was past his years, this exercise seemed childish to him, but he also knew that his eleven-year-old self had had difficulty doing it. He will therefore have to pretend to be struggling so as not to appear too talented for his age. He tells himself that succeeding after Tom will be enough. Glancing at Tom he saw that his match had already become a perfect needle. Harry gaped at him. How was that possible, even Hermione it had taken her a few tries to get there. Which showed him that at the same age Hermione was far behind Tom. He did the same, purposely failing his first two attempts.

Professor McGonagall gave them a smile and points each for succeeding so quickly.

Class ended and they headed into the great hall to eat. They were joined by Neville as for breakfast and this time by Draco accompanied by Pansy and Blaise and not by Crabbe and Goyle. He agreed to let them join them, after all in this life he had no reason to hate him. Neville seemed a little tense, their lessons hadn't gone well in the past.

“I didn’t know you two were friends.” Draco announced, looking at Neville who was trying to make himself as small as possible.

"Yes we are... Why? Did something happen?" Harry asked looking between them.

"Sorry Neville, I shouldn't have laughed in potions class." Draco apologized immediately afterwards.

Harry was surprised by Draco's behavior, it was the second time in a day that he was surprised by the behavior of someone he thought he knew. Draco apologizing was rare, even after the Battle of Hogwarts. He didn't say anything, he just smiled. Neville stammered more than he spoke about thanks and that it wasn't a big deal. Draco sat up remembering something.

“I present to you two friends, Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zagini.” Draco introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Harry and the person who is immersed in his book is Tom." Harry introduced himself.

"Finally the sorting hat worked well when it placed you in Ravenclaw." Pansy laughed, trying to see what was reading Tom.

Tom was so immersed in his book that he shouldn't have heard the conversation, he didn't even react to the remark and he didn't even touch the food. He returned to his own food, figuring he could take Tom to the kitchen later.

"By the way, what's going on with the Weasley? I see him talking to you and he's proclaiming to anyone who will listen that you're friends." Blaise asked suddenly.

"Good question. I don't know him, he comes of his own accord and imposes himself. It's even surprising that he isn't here yet." Harry replied.

It hurt his heart to talk about his former friend like that, but that was the case in this life. He didn't understand his behavior, really. And what surprised him the most was that apparently it was Dumbledore who had told him that they were friends. He wondered why. And above all why Dumbledore had looked badly at Tom at the beginning. Had he recognized Voldemort or something? His instincts didn't like it, and he had a bad feeling. He had to answer some of his questions quickly.

“Speaking of the wolf, he’s coming.” Tom commented without taking his eyes off his book.

Looking towards the entrance, indeed Ron was coming towards them. Harry wondered how Tom had known without looking. Obviously he wasn't the only one to ask, given the looks on him.

Ron came towards them with a big smile which faded at the sight of the people present with him. He stood there in silence watching the various members of their fledgling groups go from surprise to anger, his face turning as red as his hair.

"Have you lost your tongue Weasley?" Pansy asked with false innocence.

“I have nothing to say to you.” Ron retorted with anger and disgust.

“We have nothing to do with you either and yet here you are.” Tom cut in without even looking at Ron.

Pansy laughed at the remark and especially at Ron's unreadable expression which was comical. When his senses came back he gave Tom a dark look and began to draw his wand. Harry did the same without thinking, stood up and pointed his wand at Ron's face who blocked all his movements.

"Do not think about it." Harry whispered, in a dark voice he didn't know he had.

Silence reigned around them, all eyes were on them. He was used to it with all his years at Hogwarts and even the years after. He ignored them. Ron put his wand back in his pocket and Harry did the same without taking his eyes off Ron.

“Now go away.” He said in the same tone.

He waited until Ron left to sit down again and resume his meal. He noticed that silence still reigned and that everyone was still looking at him. Even Tom had taken his eyes off his book. He made a 'what?' hand gesture, wondering what it was that made him look at him like that.

"Just remind me to never get into trouble." Draco replied, returning to his plate.

"When we see you we wouldn't believe that you can be so terrifying." Blaise admitted with a big smile, following Draco as he continued the meal.

Neville, Pansy just nodded without saying anything more and Tom resumed reading. On the other hand, the whispers around them were heard suddenly, like the sound of thunder in his ears. He stopped himself from rolling his eyes, too used to this treatment, and continued as if nothing had happened.

After the meal he and Tom went to the spells room where they were greeted by their head of house, Professor Flitwick. It was weird to think that he wasn't Professor McGonagall anymore, he knew that Professor Flitwick was a good teacher, just used to the hard life. They sat in the middle row, just to be discreet next to the other people of their year. Of all, he only knew four: Terry, Anthony, Mickael and Padma. And still from quite a distance in the end because they only knew them from Dumbledore's army. He stayed with his small group and didn't even pay attention to the other student. On the one hand the majority hated him every other day for reasons each more insane than the last, it didn't make you want to know them.

On the other side he recognized some Hufflepuffs, obviously Hannah and Susan, but also Ernie and Justin and that was it. Once again members of Dumbledore's Army.

"Welcome to you dear students. I am Professor Fillius Flitwick, I will be your spell teacher. Many of your teachers will tell you that their subject is complicated, this subject is not one of them if you are concentrated and attentive during the lessons. Here you will learn spells useful in many everyday situations, and therefore an important course. So I hope you will all be attentive." Professor Flitwick introduced with a big smile, denoting the other professors.

"As you can see you have a feather in front of you. The most curious will ask why. It's very simple, all you will have to do is make this feather fly using the Levitation spell. " The professor continued, placing a feather in front of him.

He cast the spell and twirled the little white feather in the air with disconcerting simplicity. Some students didn't seem impressed by the demonstration, Harry wanted to smile knowing that the spell is not that simple when you have never cast it. They will quickly become disillusioned, he laughed.

“Remember, we raise the wand in a semi-circle and lower it while clearly pronouncing “Wingardium Leviosa”. Now it’s your turn!” Explained the professor before leaving them to face their pens.

Again to his great astonishment, Tom had succeeded on the first try making it levitate few centimeters from the desk. Now that he paid attention Tom hadn't said anything, so it was magic without words. He was even more impressed by the demonstration, it had taken him a whole year and Felix's help to get there. So much ability at such a young age was rare, even powerful wizards didn't show that much, it would deserve a trophy... The trophy room! Yes, how had he not thought of that sooner? In their second year, when they had Tom's diary, Ron had seen his name in the trophy room. To have confirmation, all you have to do is see that his name is on the trophy.

The problem was how to get there without Tom following him? He could always go there in the evening after curfew and use a hiding spell. Except that not seeing him didn't stop Tom from not knowing who was obviously there. He didn't know yet how that was possible but it seemed like it. He'll have to find something else.

While he was lost in thought he did not see that Professor Flitwick had arrived at them. It was when he heard his name that he came back to the present moment. He cast the spell perfectly and received points for his demonstration. He thanked him and leaned back in his seat.

"How are you?" Padma asked, much to his surprise.

"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry, I was just in my thoughts." Harry admitted, trying to show a reassuring smile.

Padma wasn't completely convinced but said no more and returned to her exercise. The class continued like this without anything more. Well, apart from Tom who bothered other students with his feather , taking great pleasure in it but feigning innocence when the students started to get angry. He was amused by this childish behavior but he had to put an end to it so as not to make Tom hate them from day one.

At the end of the class, Tom surprised him by telling him that he would join him later.
It was his opening.

He went out with the others and waited until he was out of sight before starting to run as fast as he could towards the trophy room. Fortunately for him his speed was not lost. He only had 30 minutes to go and returned to class for their first Defense lessons. Knowing Quirrel he could afford to be a few minutes late, but he didn't prefer to be noticed.

He arrived out of breath at the room. He had not encountered anyone since he had passed through the less populated areas of the castle. He looked everywhere and read every trophy, he couldn't remember where Tom's trophy was, only that it was for service to the school in 1943.

He looked through the many shelves and trophies before coming across the one he was looking for. Except there was a difference.

“Award for Marvolo Morld for Service to the School.”