It was a dark night in front of Wool's Orphanage, not a single street lamp was lit and the moon was hidden by clouds. A figure was smoking and staring at the orphanage and contemplating what he was going to do. Putting down the cigarette and stomping on it the figure let out a low sigh before throwing a cloak over his shoulders and vanishing from sight. Unbeknownst to anyone who could have been watching the figure began making his way towards the orphanage, the only sign of his passing was the door gently opening and closing with nary a sound.

The figure pulled what appeared to be a polished stick from his pocket and muttered a strange phrase under his breath before the stick gently spun in a circle before pointing in a specific direction. The figure slowly made his way towards a cabinet and opened it before rifling through it to find the 'R's. Finding the file he was looking for the figure scanned it before putting it back. Turning he made his way towards the stairs and began to climb them.

Finding the door he was looking for, the figure stopped and waved the stick in his hand at himself and the door before proceeding to open the door. When the figure was finally in the room he stalked towards the bed before waving his stick and sitting down in the chair that had materialized and taking his cloak off. With an almost negligent wave the figure gave a muttered, "Stupefy" and the child on the bed relaxed even more and fell into a deeper sleep. With the cloak no longer obscuring the figures features one could make out his face at last.

He had somewhat shaggy messy black hair, and vibrant emerald colored eyes. He also had a faded scar on the right side of his head. He set his wand, for that is what it was, down and leaned forward to stare at the child on the bed. He gave a sigh as he rubbed his hands over his face. He finally leveled his gaze completely on the slumbering form and gave a somewhat sardonic grin.

"What am I going to do with you, Tom?" Harry Potter muttered.

Harry Potter had never had the easiest life, his parents being murdered before he could form a coherent sentence and the less said about his life growing up with his estranged relatives, the better. He finally found out why his relatives hated him at age eleven and proceeded to enter a secret society of magical humans.

The following seven years would give the previous eleven a run for their money in sheer horridness. The only saving grace were the facts that he had been able to learn magic at a prestigious academy like his parents had and the friends he made while there. The happy memories soon stopped as the Dark Lord that had murdered his parents gained a body and decided to restart his campaign of terror against wizarding Britain.

Harry had then stood and led a counter-offensive against the Dark Lord and won, however his victory was extremely bittersweet as it had come at a steep price for all who had fought, those on the side of light and those not. Harry had lost all of his closest friends and even someone he had started growing feelings for. As a result Harry had shut out everyone who had tried to get to know him after the war and began to dedicate himself to learning everything he could about magic.

At the age of twenty-seven Harry had found something that had given him hope anew. A spell with which he could travel through time much farther than the single day that time turners could. After finding this ritual Harry began preparing everything he could to take a one way trip into the past to kill Voldemort before he gained anyway power.

He then went to the goblins, liquidated all his assets and then took all his liquid assets out of the bank. He then proceeded to pack all his things into three trunks which he shrunk to the size of charms which he then put on a necklace to wear. After getting himself a nice vintage style suit so that he wouldn't look out of place in the past and said his farewells to the world he knew and prayed that he would be able to give a different Harry Potter a better life.

However Harry had overshot the time he had meant to reach and now found himself with a conundrum as he stared at the, at a guess, eight year old face of his nemesis. While Harry knew Tom would grow to become a Dark Lord that terrorized his home, that man wasn't this boy. This boy hadn't done anything evil yet, even the boy who had killed pets and terrified his fellow orphans wasn't this boy yet.

"Dammit," Harry muttered with a shake of his head. "Why couldn't you have been older? Even before you went evil you're still causing me problems." With a sigh Harry reached out and grabbed his wand and stood, vanishing his chair and putting his cloak back on in the same movement.

He then pointed his wand at Tom and the tip began to glow a sinister green, casting an ominous visage across Tom's face. Harry's wand began to tremble before he took a steadying breath and recentered his wand.

"This is for the best," he said to himself, trying to convince himself that this was the correct choice. "You're going to grow into a monster. I've no other choice."

After a period of silence Harry let loose yet another sigh and lowered his wand. He grit his teeth and began to berate himself mentally. Here he was with the opportunity to prevent all the pain and suffering he and his friends had had to go through and yet he was hesitating. This child before him was going to do horrible things, kill countless people either himself or through proxy and tear families apart, so why was he hesitating?

"I'm so sorry, everyone, I've failed you again." Harry was about to apparate away and live the rest of his life as a hermit for failing in his self-appointed mission when a thought struck him. At first Harry shot it down but the more he thought of it the more it appealed to him. "Oh, this is going to be good." Harry threw a grin at the sleeping child. "Get ready Tommy-boy I'm going to turn history on it's head and you, my friend, are going to help me." With that Harry vanished from the room with no one the wiser of his presence.

Tom Riddle was not by any definition a normal child. While he was orphaned at birth like a great many of his peers his parents, or at least his mother, had been vastly different to those living with him now. You see Tom's mother had been a squib someone who had been born to magical parents, but didn't have the capability to wield magic themselves. Tom, however, didn't know this. All Tom knew was that he had special abilities and it allowed him to protect himself. Tom had a problem with bullies at the orphanage, those kids who would trap him in cupboards and the like when couples came over to adopt children. Tom retaliated with his abilities and the cycle continued.

Recently though Tom had been mulling the idea of becoming more proactive with his tormentors in his mind. While he preferred to stay in the shadows and observe others, if he had to use his powers to assert his dominance over the other children, so be it. There would be no sleepless nights for Tom if he did go that route.

However things Tom preferred to think about were different ways to test and grow his abilities. He had looked far and wide (or as far and wide as an eight year old boy can) for any others who seemed to exhibit powers like Tom's but he had been unlucky in that department, leading him to one of two conclusions. Either Tom was the only one with his capabilities or they were extremely well hidden outside of the abilities of a child to find. So putting his search off for when he was older Tom began to explore his powers to find out any limits he had, if he had any limits that was.

What he found was a rather eclectic power base. He figured out that he could levitate things, ranging from a tiny pebble to a rock the size of his head. He could use his abilities to scare others into leaving him alone (an ability he relished using against those who tormented him) as well as influence other emotions as well, such as happiness and anger. He could create a ball of light and could make himself slightly stronger. His weirdest power, though, was his ability to talk to and understand snakes.

They mostly referred to him as 'speaker' or 'human', even after he had introduced himself, which was irritating but he could put up with it as it gave him something that he cherished, friends. The downside to being able to talk to snakes was getting caught which he was. When the Matron was informed of this peculiarity she sent Tom off to speak with a doctor who he managed to convince that he wasn't crazy and was just lonely. Tom took it as practice to see how well he could influence others with his powers. It had gone swimmingly, in Tom's humble opinion.

Soon after Tom began to surround himself with other children to provide himself with a barrier of sorts between himself and his tormentors. They also provided him the means with which he convinced the Matron and other workers that he was no longer lonely (something that was untrue, but that Tom refused to even acknowledge, believing it a weakness).

As Tom came back to himself after drifting down memory lane he heard a somewhat timid knock at his door. He turned and glanced at it before looking out his window to appear uninterested in whoever came in.

"Come in." He called.

"Hello, Tom," a young boy named John said as he crept into the room.

"What is it?'" Tom asked with nary a glance at the boy, telling him without words that Tom was not interested in anything he had to say. The boy gulped and took a few steps toward Tom before he began to speak again.

"It's the Matron, she said that someone's coming over to adopt someone."

"So? What does this have to do with me?"

"She said that she wants everyone to prepare themselves for the visitor. She mentioned you by name, Tom."

This was new Usually the Matron left him to his own devices, the only notable change to this standard was when she sent him to the doctor to make sure he had no mental illnesses. Since this was the first time she had mentioned him by name, that meant that she thought this person was likely to adopt him. Well, Tom wouldn't have that, he had just gotten into a routine with his little empire (as he affectionately called it) at the orphanage and he wouldn't let anyone ruin it for him. Still if the Matron had mentioned him by name that meant she was serious about him presenting himself and it was better to keep her happy for now, at least until he gained more power.

"Very well, go tell her I will prepare for our visitor." Tom said with a disinterested wave of his hand. John left without a word to do as Tom had instructed. Tom stood and walked over to his wardrobe and opened it revealing his current collection of outfits. As Tom was pulling out his best outfit he glimpsed a small box at the bottom of his wardrobe and smirked to himself. It currently held all his trophies that he had collected from his tormentors after he had beaten them. Closing the door on his treasures he began to change his clothes so that he could put on a show this visitor.

Not fifteen minutes later Tom heard a knock at his door and went to answer that it was the Matron this time and not one of his toadys.

"Are you ready, Mr. Riddle?" The Matron asked once Tom had opened the door.

"Yes, Matron." He answered in a respectful tone. She looked him over with a sharp eye, looking for anything out of place before giving him a short nod and beckoning him to follow her.

Tom followed her to the entry hall where all of the other children were waiting along with all the workers as well.

"Stand here boy." The Matron said as she led him to a spot in the middle of the group of children. "Now, children, we have a very wealthy visitor coming over today, if he finds the orphanage to be to his standards he could donate money to us, which means we could take a trip to the ocean," at this the younger kids all began to mutter amongst themselves in excitement at taking a trip, whilst the older teens shot glances at each other in preparation for all the mischief they could get up to while the workers were busy watching the younger kids. "So best behavior. Understood?"

"Yes, Matron." The kids chorused.

At that a knocking sounded at the door. The Matron smoothed her skirt and shot the kids a look. "Best behavior. Emily, would you please get the door?"

"Yes, Matron." A pretty young woman said. When she opened the door a rather well dressed young man entered behind her. Tom was almost taken aback with how finely this man's clothes were made. Living at the orphanage had made sure that he was not used to the finer things in life, or even seeing them up close, so seeing someone flaunt their money in their clothes was jarring for the young boy.

The man was rather tall and seemed to carry himself with a quiet confidence. He was wearing a black suit and had a black fedora adorning his head. What drew Tom the most was his eyes, they seemed to glow with an inner power and enraptured the boy. Tom knew this man had power and almost shrunk in on himself when the man's green eyes met Tom's own dark brown eyes but managed to prevent that instinctual response.

"Mr. Peverell, how nice to meet you." The Matron said as she walked towards the man and grasped his hand, giving it a firm shake.

"You as well, Matron Wright. This is a lovely place." Mr. Peverell said with a charming smile. The smile didn't fool Tom though. He could see something dark, and dangerous in this man's eyes. Tom knew this man was up to something, the question was what?

Harry had had a weird few weeks since he had left Wool's Orphanage to begin his plan. The first thing he had done, after getting some rest of course, was head to Gringotts as he knew that the Goblins had their grubby little fingers in everything. He had arrived and made a name for himself, literally as his grandfather was around Tom's current age so it would be just a little weird for him to call himself Harry Potter. Luckily as he had collected all the Hallows and currently had them in his possession (barring the ones from his current time) and his blood relation to Ignotus Peverell, he was eligible to take up the Head of House position for the Peverells. He had thought that weird when he had found out about it, but learned that the Peverells had been the Ministry's main enchanters and artificers so had been granted a seat on the Wizengamot and an automatic vault at Gringotts. Harry thought the Potters should have gotten the seat, but was told by the Goblins that that would have given one family too much power so the seat had been held in perpetuity for an eventual Peverell to take the seat and since no Potter he renounced their name they couldn't take it up, leaving it open for Harry to take for his own.

Harry had shrugged and rolled with it as it gave him some maneuvering room for when the Wizengamot inevitably found out about him, not to mention Dumbledore. Thus Harry Potter became Harrison Peverell (though he would still go by Harry to his friends, Harrison was too formal a name for him). After that Harry had played fast and loose with confundus charms to get himself integrated into the circle of friends for several muggle politicians. After he had done that (skirting being caught by several Ministry Aurors) he arranged a trip to Wool's Orphanage through several of his new friends and now here he was. Facing a crowd of children with, more importantly, Tom Riddle among them.

After playing nice and greeting all the kids (though that was a bit of a misnomer as several teenagers were among them as well) Harry asked if he could have a tour and was granted his request, he used some subtle mind magic to get the Matron to suggest young Tom Riddle as his guide.

"This is where we play when it is nic outside." Tom said in a polite, if monotonous, tone. "Would you like to go upstairs now sir?"

"Actually, I was wondering if I could speak with you." Harry said as he took of his hat and kneeled down so he could look Tom in the eye.

"Why?" Tom said as his guard came up, wary of this stranger.

"Tom, has anything… strange ever happened to you before?" Harry asked, curious if to see how Tom would react. Harry wasn't disappointed as Tom's as widened and his mouth fell slightly open before he managed to regain control of his facial muscles.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean sir." Tom tried to prevaricate. Harry chuckled before bringing his hand up.

"Don't play me for a fool boy." He said as his hand caught fire. Tom, who had tensed preparing for a blow, was once more struck dumb as he witnessed Harry's little feat.

"H-how..?" Tom stammered as his hand came up to touch the fire. At this Harry closed his hand, snuffing out the flame.

"Magic," he said. "That was magic, something both you and I can do."

"Both of us?" Tom asked as he stared at Harry's hand his mind still lingering on the flame that had been there.

"Yes, both of us, and more too. We aren't the only ones. Around one percent of the world's population are wizards or witches." Harry explained.

"Wizard?"

"Yes, you and I are wizards. Those with the ability to perform magic, either with a wand," here Harry pulled out his wand to show Tom before putting it away once more. "Or wandlessly, like with the fire I just conjured."

Tom finally regained his bearing after being hit with all this knowledge and glared at Harry before taking a small step back and slightly balling his fists. "Why are you telling me this?" He asked as he threw his power at Harry in order to force him to tell the truth. Harry just chuckled and bat the tendril of magic away with his own power causing Tom to gasp as he experienced a magically backlash for the first time.

"You aren't nearly powerful enough to catch me with that yet, kid. The reason I'm telling you this is simple. I want to adopt you." Harry said with a small smile.

"Why?" Tom blurted without meaning to, though he still wanted an answer. Why did this powerful man want HIM, or all people. Tom didn't know exactly how much one percent of the population was but he assumed it was a lot. If there were so many wizards and witches out there why would this man want him? His own father didn't want him and no one who had ever came by had wanted to adopt him so why this man? Finally an idea struck him. "Is it because I have magic too?"

Harry grimaced internally. If ever there was a time to go back and change his mind about this whole crazy idea now was it. He couldn't though for he recognized the look on the young boy's face. It was one Harry had had on his face before he had grown jaded to the world and Sirius had died. He sighed and placed a hand on Tom's shoulder before giving him a small smile.

"Yes," Harry began at this Tom's face fell slightly before growing cold until Harry continued. "And no. Yes, I do want to adopt you because of your power so that I can teach you how to harness it responsible, and no because I see something of myself in you Tom."

"What do you mean?" The boy asked. Harry smiled ruefully as he said something an older Tom had once told him.

"We're really very similar. I see something of the kid I once was in you and I want to give you something that I never got, something that I desperately needed."

"What?"

"A place to belong. A place to be me, a place where I didn't have to worry about bullies or danger or my life even. That's something I want to give you, Tom."

Tom lowered his head to stare at the ground as thoughts raced through his mind. Should he take this man up on his offer? Should he accept this adoption? What the man was offering was tempting to the extreme for Tom. It was like offering water to man stranded in the desert. A place to belong…? No. That wasn't what Tom wanted, Tom just wanted to learn from this man that was all. After all this man had conjured fire in his hand, as well as the fact that he had a wand something that Tom wanted for himself. That was all. He just wanted to use him to better himself.

Harry watched as Tom ran through a gamut of emotions, he just kept his hand on the boy's shoulder before he squeezed it in reassurance and brought Tom's attention back to him. He smiled once more. "So, what do you say?"

"Yes."

A/N: Alright so I hope you guys liked that. If you really liked it you should definitely leave a review and tell me what you think. I'll take any criticisms you have so that I can get better at this whole writing thing. I know making Harry a Peverell is a bit cliche but that's because it works. Anyway that's all from me, if you have any ideas or, like I said before, criticisms be sure to leave a review.