a series of one shots originally posted on my wattpad (-thestrals) and now on here bc i like reviews (so leave a review thank u)

--

Harry Potter slumps against the wall.

In his little apartment - tinier than the Wizarding World expected - there's barely any furniture. A comfortable brown couch is flush in a cut-out corner of the room, facing a small muggle television he'd wanted. In fact, the apartment ws filled with regular muggle items, because he was renting the small space out in muggle London.

The weak white light flickers above his head, and he's reminded of a harsh green curse and the initial brightness of (what he decided was called Afterlife's Cross Station) death, but not quite death.

He'd seen Dumbledore there, and the strange wrinkly thing crying of agony underneath the chair. Sighing, The Boy Who Lived swings the bottle of Firewhiskey up to his lips, letting its burning taste wash down his mouth and throat. Dumbledore had given him a choice that day: accept his death, or go back to the world of the living. He'd gone back - fooling Voldemort and ultimately defeating him.

There it was again. Voldemort. No matter what, he always thought of him as that - never Tom or Riddle, as he should. He constantly had to remind himself the thing Voldemort had become used to be more alive, more human, before becoming tainted with madness and a burning desire to bring upon his twisted right and wrong.

Harry relieves everything - seeing Tom Riddle rearrange the letters, witnessing Slughorn discuss Horcruxes to Tom Riddle, l shiny and immaculate in his star student disguise he'd worn in his time at Hogwarts. Harry thinks of why didn't anyone see it - how didn't anyone realise this handsome young boy with the sweet words flowing from his mouth as easy as wind rustling leaves did - how anyone had missed out on the darker, inner working of Tom Riddle's mind.

Voldemort, Harry thinks, and his stomach churns, thinking of all the darkness his life has thrown upon him, and he leans against the wall of his dingy London apartment and wishes for something better.