Rebirth

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

Marvolo Morld? The date and the trophy match 100%. So the Tom who was on his side was the one he knew, the one who had become Lord Voldemort. And in this world he was a different person. So why had Dumbledore reacted like this? It must have something to do with what Ron keeps saying. He had answered a question, whether Tom was the Tom he thought he was, but that opened up other questions that he doesn't yet know how to answer. The advantage once again was that he had already experienced the events so he could not be taken by surprise.

The problem was that he didn't have time to think, he had to go to Defense class.

He ran to Quirrel's room, arriving out of breath but to his relief he was not the last to arrive. He sat next to Tom who had placed himself towards the back of the class, having probably waited for him to arrive and was moved to the front seat. The sound of the bag being placed on the table caught Tom's attention and he watched him catch his breath. Harry could see the question on his face but he said nothing and resumed his observation of the room.

The last students arrived as well as Professor Quirrel, still wrapped in a purple turban. He saw Tom stand up next to him and looking at him he saw his eyebrows furrowed as if he was trying to understand something incomprehensible. He wondered what was bothering him.

As in his previous life, Quirrel stuttered, which made the class difficult to follow. From what he understood it was a simple introduction to the Defense courses, what it was for and what would be on the program. For 1 hour and a half. The history of magic lessons with Binns seem fascinating. He had completely forgotten what his classes were like, having other problems or more memorable teachers. All he remembered about him was his stuttering and having Voldemort's head behind his.

At least it gives him time to think. His old self would have run to Dumbledore for answers. The problem is that a few things are fishy around the man. So going to talk to him wouldn't be a good idea, he wouldn't come clean... Unless he forced Dumbledore to tell him. He wasn't smart enough for that. Tom could probably do it, he was smart enough to manipulate everyone, the problem was he was still socially awkward. He remembers his first year, the stone, the dog, Quirrel drinking unicorn blood... What if he didn't do any of that. Or not everything. He could always see Erised's mirror to have the conversation with Dumbledore and not go do the rest and see his reaction. It was a plan, probably not the best but a plan. Observing wasn't his strong point, but it was better than diving in like he usually does.

For now he was going with that, he will see in due time.

After class they both headed to the library to do their potions homework, even though he only had class on Thursday, they preferred not to fall behind. As he entered he could see stars in Tom's eyes who had probably never seen so many books. They had barely sat down at a table when Tom piled up a mountain of books talking about every possible subject. Pansy was right, the sorting hat had made the right choice, he thought, smiling.

The time they had just for themselves was short-lived, out of the corner of his eye he saw Fred and George approaching them.

“Hey, what’s going on with our brother?” Fred asked, stepping between them.

"Brother?" he asked, feigning incomprehension about what he was asking.

"A little redhead in your year. Ron." Replied Georges, placing himself next to his brother.

“He complained several times that your reading friend insulted him.” Fred continued, looking at Tom who was reading a book on mind magic.

"Not to mention that this morning you pointed your wand at him." George finished.

"Tom never insulted him, they argued, yes I can't deny it. Ron imposes himself in my circle of friends, insulting them elsewhere, and Tom only defends him as well as asking him to leave. That's what I do myself but he keeps coming back." Harry answered honestly, after all he has nothing to hide.

“And for this morning?” Fred asked, crossing his arms.

"He started pulling out his own wand to attack Tom, I was just defending my friend."

Fred and George looked at each other for a moment, a common understanding forming between them, as usual.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Asked Georges retortally placing his hands on his hips.

“I knew it wasn’t the right script he sold us.” Fred replied with a big smile.

Harry looked between the two, this time in real incomprehension. They were not at all angry that he rejected their brothers, on the contrary they almost took it as a joke.

"He's not just imposing himself, he's claiming to be your best friend. His behavior is really starting to get on my nerves." Tom added, giving him a dark look out of the corner of his eye, meaning that next time he won't be gentle.

“He hadn’t stopped talking about it before the start of the school year.” George commented.

"It wasn't the only one, Ginny kept harping on it too." Fred continued.

Harry grimaced as he thought of his ex-wife who he had left with their children. George put a hand on her shoulder, mistaking the grimace for discomfort.

“If he bothers you again, call us, we’ll get him away.”

“If it’s by his brothers, maybe the humiliation will get him arrested.” Added Fred.

“Not sure, he’s humiliating enough on his own, and yet.” Commented Tom still in his book.

“We’ll pull his dresses then.” Fred laughed.

They left to join Lee Jordan who was watching them from their old places. Harry stood there baffled. He knew that the twins were a bit of the black sheep of the family but they remained very close to them. They made jokes about their brothers but if anyone did the same they would not be friendly with him.

“Harry?” asked a voice behind them.

Turning towards the person he saw Professor Flitwick displaying a concerned expression.

"Teacher?" he asked.

What did Professor Flitwick want from him, he had done nothing to get noticed. Next to him he saw Tom moved and looking at him he saw a guilty look on his face. What had he done?

“Could you follow me please?” Professor Flitwick asked softly as he began to walk forward without even waiting for a response.

He followed him, casting a dark look at Tom who had clearly said something to the professor. What? He did not know. But he would have liked to discuss it before being taken by surprise.

Their journey through the castle took them to the infirmary. He walked in without asking questions, hoping he would have answers. The infirmary was empty, considering it was the first day it was actually quite reassuring. He wasn't too happy to return to the infirmary, he had spent enough hours in there to be back there again so soon.

The professor invited him to sit on one of the beds, where there was already Madame Pomfrey and... Professor Snape? He was even more confused than before.

"Mr. Potter, I suspect that you are a little lost. But Mr. Riddle has expressed his concerns about you. Professor Snape also shares his concerns. Therefore, we would like to ask you a few questions as well as give you a little medical check-up. You don't have to answer all the questions, of course, but it would help us to help you." Professor Flitwick explained in his reassuring tone.

So there he was completely shocked. His friends had never even expressed a doubt about his living conditions, let alone tried to act. But Tom, whom he had only known, in this life at least, for 2 days, had done it. Not only him but Snape too. Of all. If we had told him, even after the Battle of Hogwarts he wouldn't have believed it.

He gave a small nod in agreement. Madam Pomfrey was busy casting spells on him to check his state of health, which was probably not very good.

“I would like you to tell me what your relationship is like with your family.” Professor Flitwick asked, still in a gentle and reassuring tone.

Horrible he wanted to say, but it was as if something was stopping him. He'd never talked about it before now that he thought about it. His confusion must have been visible on his face given the troubled expressions of the three people in front of him.

"Well... It could be worse..." he began.

He didn't know why he was still so impacted by it after all these years. Maybe his newfound emotions made him even more emotional than before.

"How is your bedroom ?" Professor Flitwick tried.

He pressed his lips into a thin line, what did he have to lose by hiding the truth. In his previous life, not speaking had done nothing for his good and this time he wanted to be selfish.

“I didn’t have a room… Not really.” He said in a low voice as if he was embarrassed to admit it.

"How so ?" This time it was Professor Snape who spoke, his eyebrows furrowed but not in anger.

"Well... I was sleeping... In the cupboard under the stairs." He whispered in a barely audible breath.

It still reached the ears of the three adults. Professor Flitwick had heard the worst information of his life, Snape was wide-eyed, and Madam Pomfrey stopped all movement.

“In a closet?!” Exclaimed Madam Pomfrey who had been silent from the beginning.

"I now have a room...My cousin's second since August." he continued, feigning innocence.
“It wasn’t that bad.”

“What was the worst?” Professor Flitwick asked.

"Mmh... They forced me to do meals and work around the house, gardening. And if I had worked well I had the right to eat. Sometimes when they thought I was naughty I didn't eat and I didn't come out of my room. Dursley was having fun running after me to hit me but I would run faster anyway..." He stopped when he saw that Madam Pomfrey was about to faint.

“No one came to see what was going on?” Professor Flitwick asked.

"No...no one. Why?"

"Someone should have come to see you. Normally when a magical child is placed with a Muggle family there is a minimum of follow-up." Madam Pomfrey explained in a motherly voice.

"I don't think they would have let a wizard into their house anyway." Harry laughed, imagining Uncle Vernon's face when he saw a wizard at his door.

The joke wasn't to everyone's taste.

"What do you mean by that ?" Snape asked.

"They... Don't like strange people, as they like to call them." He always answered innocently, not to say that they hated magic and everything close to it.

Madam Pomfrey read her analysis spell, her face falling with each line. He knew his health was far from good, but that bad? She passed the parchment to Professor Snape, who didn't like what he saw, before leaving, probably to make the necessary potions.

"Professor Snape will provide you with all the potions you need. You have enormous growth retardation, a rather worrying underweight, poorly melded bones that could be dangerous in the future, and many other things that could cause problems. You will have to come every month so that we can do regular check-ups to adapt your treatments." Madam Pomfrey explained trying to calm her nerves.

Well, he knew about the first two, no real need for analysis to see it, but the bones he had no idea.

"I think that will be enough for today, Mr. Potter." Announced Professor Flitwick who invited him to follow him towards the door of the infirmary.

Harry followed him in silence. The professor turned to him as they reached the door. He showed a desolate and worried face while hiding it with a shy smile that was meant to be comforting.

“Don’t hesitate to speak if you feel the need, whether it’s me or another teacher. We’re here for that too.” The professor explained, placing a hand on the shoulder as a sign of comfort.

Harry accepted the remark and left the room. After closing the door he noticed the presence of Tom who had probably followed them, well not after having taken a good amount of book. He had at least 3 in his arms and maybe 5 in his bag. Given his reaction in the library he was awaiting his punishment for talking about him.

Harry rushed towards him quickly, causing Tom to step back with a look of fear on his face. He hugged him which did not make Tom relax, quite the contrary. He felt him tense in his arms.

“We should go back to the dorm.” He suggested, letting go of Tom who hadn't moved an inch.

Tom nodded and followed him into the corridors of the castle, Harry had taken the three books from Tom's arms by casting a discreet spell to lighten his bag. They arrived in front of the common room, the crow moved before giving its riddle:

“What expands and shrinks at the same time?”

He had no idea, and he didn't want to seem like an idiot. Why did the Sorting Hat place him in Ravenclaw? It was at this moment that he asked himself. Tom looked at him waiting to know if he was going to give an answer or not.

"The life." Tom finally said, seeing that it wasn't Harry who was going to answer.

"Thanks." he whispered as he entered the common room with Tom.

Tom said nothing and only followed him towards the empty chairs in front of the library. He sank into it, followed by Tom who sat down more delicately. He pulled out a parchment, after all they had been to the library to do their potions homework and he hadn't even written a line of it. Seeing that Tom was watching him, he placed a shield so as not to be heard.

"Yes?" he asked, already knowing that Tom wouldn't talk by himself.

Tom took out a parchment as he saw that he was starting to work.

"Sorry for speaking without your consent. I just found some... strange details that caught my attention. And since I didn't know how to act, I spoke to an adult about it." Tom apologized as he began his homework, allowing him to avoid his gaze.

“Why would I blame you?” he asked perplexed.

"I didn't ask you if you would like me to talk to a third person about your possible problems. That wasn't really wise of me." Tom explained, still dutifully avoiding his gaze.

"I don't blame you. You did the right thing. Thank you." He thanked accompanied by a small smile that he knew Tom didn't see given how his eyes were glued to his parchment.

Harry said nothing and also wrote his paper. After half an hour he had managed to finish the assignment, having already done the lessons. His homework was exactly the size requested, and of that he was proud of it, before he had to write much bigger to hope to get close to it. He raised his head to see where Tom was, he had the impression of being face to face with Hermione, well except for the few erasures and imprecision in his letters, he had never written with a feather and you could see it. He pressed his quill as if it were a pen and looking on the table, there was already a corpse of a tip. Harry stood up and moved behind Tom to read his homework. And apart from a few words he couldn't make out much. Tom was frustrated at not being able to write his note after five tries and crossed it out violently before abruptly putting his pen down.

“You’re pushing too hard.” Harry explained, taking another blank piece of parchment.

He took Tom's hand and placed his fingers correctly. He moved Tom's arm and wrist to make it curl neatly.

“Practice this, I’ll take care of your homework.” He suggested, removing the assignment from where it was.

Tom said nothing and continued the loop lines without even looking at what Harry was doing with his homework. Harry returned to his seat and placed two parchments in front of him: the assignment and a blank one. In his memories there was a spell that imitated the scriptures. He tried to remember the latter and Tom's writing in the journal, which was far from the rag in front of him.

He managed to write the first word, and the letters were too beautiful for an eleven year old, after all the Tom in the newspaper was 15? 16 years old? He didn't really remember it anymore. He made some uncertain letters, lines that were not straight, while keeping the letters small. He added a few erasures on the parchment, well it was mainly because he had difficulty rereading certain passages, but also to add to the realism of the assignment. After 15 minutes he managed to complete the assignment, and quite impressive for the grader, the assignment far exceeded the required measure even when writing small. How did he do that? Looking up he saw Tom trying to write, and to his surprise it looked a lot like the letter he had imitated. At least it will be more than realistic and no one will be able to see anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, the first two classes of the day went normally: spells were like the day before, except that this class the people Tom had bothered looked at him furiously which only made Tom smile, who this time, had flew their own feathers everywhere before being stopped by Harry. History class had been boring and he had just dozed at his table while Tom scribbled in Harry's history textbook, he didn't really care about it’s condition after all he already knew it. And it seemed to keep him busy.

The meal had been calm. Except for the moment when Ron made another attempt to be in his group before being carried away by his brothers who then decided to join them, which made Ron run from the great hall. He really had to understand what was going on with him.

Now, the flight course. He was completely relaxed, he was very good at flying after all. Tom looked whiter than usual. He was just pretending to be relaxed by crossing his arms and displaying his natural blank face. As in his first life the weather was clear with a light breeze which he gladly took advantage of, the good weather quickly disappears this high in the north.

Professor Hooch walked in the middle of the two rows of students after asking that they stand next to one of the brooms placed on the ground.

“Reach your right hand above the broom, and say, “Stand up!” She ordered in a confident voice.

All the students started shouting "stand up" Harry got his first in his hand, like in his previous life. Tom's broom hadn't even moved an inch.

"STAND UP!! Stop turning a deaf ear and come into my fucking hand!" he shouted angrily.

Harry was surprised to hear this kind of language from such a young child. Then he remembered the environment in which he grew up, an orphanage in a poor neighborhood... Not so surprising.

“Tom doesn’t talk like that.” He ordered, fortunately no one had heard his words.

"Because it's my fault!? It's that bastard who doesn't want to!" he continued, still angry.

Harry had to contain his laughter so as not to encourage this kind of language, especially in the middle of class.

"He knows you're scared. That's why he doesn't come." He explained, which didn't calm Tom down.

"Are you telling me he's like a horse? That he has feelings?" he asked angrily.

Harry couldn't hold back his laughter.

“Just relax, that’s all.”

Tom said "up" calmly and the broom finally came into his hand. He was surprisingly not the last, it must be said that Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were not known for being great sportsmen, it was cliché but given that half of the students had not even moved their broom.

Once everyone had their broom in their hand, Professor Hooch showed them how to ride the handle without slipping. She walked past all the students to correct their positions.

"And now you kick the ground to get started. Hit hard. You will hold your brooms straight, you will rise a meter or two and you will immediately return to the ground, leaning forward slightly. Watch out for the whistle." She explained before blowing the whistle.

Few students managed to do this. Harry could only count 6 in the air and all of them were former DA members. Tom hadn't moved a bit, his eyes tightly closed, his hands gripping the broom as if letting go would kill him. Harry grabbed Tom's broom, right in front of Tom's hands.

"Trust me. I won't let go of your broom." Harry whispered.

Tom hit the ground with his foot rising into the air, eyes still closed. Harry didn't release Tom's broom and kept his serious face when he heard Tom muttering.

"Why do they have to use brooms, why not use bicycles or cars? It's very good as a means of transport. How can we think that an object which is normally made to remove dust was a good idea? It's is just a piece of wood that stops you from falling and they said "hey but that's a good idea!". Why didn't I pretend to be sick?..."

Harry actually agreed with him. Even if he thought he was exaggerating his reaction.

"Tom, I'm here. And we're not high, you can even touch the ground with your feet." he reassured.

Tom didn't move an inch and resumed his tirade.

"Look at me." he ordered in a soft voice.

Tom slowly opened his eyes, staring into hers, his shoulders relaxed and he touched the ground with his feet which made him sigh in relief. Harry waited, he wasn't afraid to go high, he had more than the opportunity to do it, Tom it was his first time and he didn't seem to like it. He asked for permission before going higher and lowering them to the ground. Tom immediately dropped his broom once his feet hit the ground, taking a few steps away.

"How are you?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Tom did nothing to respond. The class ended quickly after a student grabbed himself so hard that he broke his broom.

Tom followed him without saying a word and it continued until he went to bed that night. He was worried about it but based on his behavior on the train, if he didn't want to talk then he wouldn't talk, no matter how much Harry forced him. He fell asleep hoping that tomorrow it would be over.