A man, dressed in a long, sleek black coat, walked down the driveway to a house at the end of the street. As turned, he dug out his wand and pointed it at the locked gate in front of a house, emblazoned with a gold and red P on it.
"Alohomora." he muttered and the gate started to slowly creak open.
He continued walking down the path when a fuchsia pink Pygmy Puff caught his eye as it sat on the window ledge, its wide, unblinking eyes staring directly at him. He broke eye contact and shuddered. Bella had always had a soft spot for those fuzzy little pom-poms, but he wasn't so keen on them. He stopped in front of the door, which had a lion's head for a knocker. He spotted two young children sitting on the steps to the house next door and noticed them reading a book, which seemed to depict Harry and Voldemort's last battle.
"Did you see his nose?" giggled the girl, pointing to a moving picture of Voldemort brandishing his wand at Harry.
"What nose?" grinned the other girl, as they burst into raucous fits of laughter, clutching their red-gold scarves around their necks in the cold breeze.
"Bloody Gryffindors," he growled, as he rapped on the door seven times, "I just hope they are home."
A young boy answered the door, his brunette hair hanging over his forehead. His green eyes were like those of the skin complexion of a toad and just as charming, thought the man, as he tried to hide a grimace.
"What's your name?" asked the man, slowly.
"Albus Severus Potter, sir." said the boy, cautiously trying to get a better look at the man standing in front of him, for his face was hidden from sight underneath the cloak he was wearing.
"You poor boy." sighed the man, small sparks flying out of his wand, "Given another chance, your father would have named you after me."
"Who are you?" asked Albus, squinting to get a closer look at him.
"My name is To-" began the man, but was cut off by another older boy running to the door. He had freckles on his face and a slightly tanned complexion, but had the same hair colour as his younger brother.
"Oh come on Al!" said the boy, exasperatedly, "Dad's waiting for you!"
Albus' eyes did not shift an inch from where he thought the man's face was. His brother looked up too and gasped.
"What's your name?" asked the man.
"Who wants to know?" snapped the older boy, who had clearly inherited his grandmother's temper.
"I am a friend of your father's." said the man, "Just tell me your name."
"James Sirius Potter." said the older boy, crossing his arms and looking curiously at the man.
"Well I see you lucked out in the names department then." mumbled the man, shaking his head.
"We still don't know your name...sir." said Albus.
"My name is Tom." said the man, placing his wand back in his pocket, "I worked...closely with your father for many years."
"Did he invite you here?" demanded James, "And why aren't you showing your face-?"
"My, my James." chuckled Tom, "You really are like your grandmother; she always had such a temper. Killed my girlfriend too, she did."
"Grandma never killed anyone!" said James, shocked, "Only this woman called Bellat-"
He stopped dead in his tracks as the man lifted his hood, revealing his face.
"Galloping gargoyles..." breathed James, "You're Tom Riddle? Voldemort? The wizard that my dad defeated with a simple disarming spell?"
"I prefer to think of myself as the greate-" began Tom, running a hand roughly through his hair.
"But you're dead." said Albus, cutting smoothly across him, "Are you a ghost?"
Tom chuckled and the lights across the street flickered on and off.
"The same thing your dad thought I was back in the Chamber of Secrets." he said, "But no, I am a memory, come back to haunt your dad for giving you that ridiculous name."
"But my dad said he named me after the two bravest men he knew." said Albus, his eyes growing wide with fear and frustration.
"Well at least he didn't name you after Gilderoy Lockhart." said Tom, his face darkening as he let out a cynical laugh, "At least I had the sense to give my daughter a beautiful name."
"What on Earth is going on here?" asked Harry, as he appeared at the door.
"Dad!" shouted James, "Tom Riddle was just-!"
Both boys looked to the spot where Riddle had been standing moments earlier. He had now vanished from sight.
"Riddle?" asked Harry, with an amused expression on his face, "Oh you boys do have such an imagination."
"But he was here!" shouted Albus, indignantly.
"Alright boys, stop making a scene and come inside for dinner." said Harry, growing slightly impatient as he shut the door.
"Is everything alright?" asked Ginny, walking out of the kitchen with an arm around her daughter Lily.
"The boys here just thought that they saw Tom Riddle." said Harry, grinning.
"Wh-?" stammered Ginny, choking on the lengthy sip of Butterbeer that she had just taken.
"Relax, dear." said Harry, "It's not like Tom's just going to just re-appear if I say Voldemort."
Outside, Tom stood at the end of the street, looking back at the Potter's house.
"You're right, I won't." he said, pulling his hood up again, "But first, let me just go and thank my mother for calling me Tom."
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