AN: This is a post DH AU. It's short, sweet and not rubbish at all. I promise.
Disclaimer: Not JK. Not even close. :C
Tom
Zero.
The first time Tom was subjected to a mental probing from the Mind Healers, he was barely five hours old.
He was laying in a makeshift cot in the Hogwarts infirmary, naked and covered in mud from the forest floor, whimpering and shivering while the adults around him argued.
Shacklebolt wanted to dose him with Veritaserum and perform Legilimency on him, but someone- Probably Madam Pomfrey- reminded him they had no idea if it was safe to use on infants. Someone else said it didn't matter, and they should just kill him while he was harmless- For the greater good, of course.
Harry Potter, despite having almost died in order to kill Tom, was fervent that they be sure that this was Tom in the first place.
Due to the amount of arguing, no one noticed the young woman helping Severus Snape- who had, in fact, been only mostly dead- into the room. The man stopped, to listen to the commotion, and dismissed the girl. Who, headed straight to the abandoned Tom and immediately picked him up.
Then, a lot of things happened all at once.
Tom stopped whimpering, and snuggled closer to the warmth of the woman holding him.
Snape informed them that a single drop of veritaserum (from a silver pipette) would be perfectly safe for use on newly rebirthed Dark Lords.
Everyone was very very shocked.