Disclaimer: I am not Lemony Snicket or J. K. Rowling. I do not own the Harry Potter series or A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Summary: Dr. Montgomery Montgomery has always wanted a family. Not having the time to raise a child from infancy (or find a wife), Monty decides to adopt a five year-old boy. But will Monty be able to get him to open up to him? And what kind of person will his new assistant be like?

Rating: T, just to be on the safe side.

AN: This is essentially a Tom Riddle adoption story. The basic idea is quite a cliché, but my story is different. There are no time traveling characters and no distant relatives, just everyone's favorite nutty herpetologist.

This story contains fan characters. This is a crossover between A Series of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter. There are no pairings in this story.

Prologue

She must have heard him incorrectly, that had to have been it.

She shifted her gaze from the papers sitting on her desk to the man sitting in the chair in front of her, then back to her papers. He appeared to be a rather reasonable and intelligent man; she could tell from the way he seemed to analyze everything that came into his line of sight. Not to mention his knowledge of adoption laws was lesser only than that of the lawyers of the High Court. She must have misheard him.

No, she had definitely heard him say Tom… Maybe he had confused another boy with him. That must have been it.

Looking back at the cheerful man in front of her, she asked, "Do you mean the older boy you spoke to?" she had seen how he smiled when he had first met Charlie; he probably was referring to him.

"No, I was referring to the younger boy," the man's cheerful expression quickly turned to one of worry, "Did I get his name wrong? I could have sworn that his name was Tom! What kind of father would I be, forgetting my own son's name? After all the trouble I've had with my own name, you'd think I'd learn to be more-"

"No, Dr. Montgomery! You got his name right," she said, realizing that he had meant what he said, "I'm just… shocked, that you've picked Tom over Charlie. I mean, Charlie is such a wonderful boy after all and… Are you completely sure you want to adopt him? I'm sure you've heard what the other children think-."

"Mable, I am fully aware of the boy's past antics, and I'll have you know that I am an excellent judge of character. If he was as bad as I heard, believe me, I would know," Montgomery replied, his cheerful demeanor revived.

Mable sighed in defeat, and went back to looking over the paperwork. At least she had tried to warn the man about what he was getting into.

"If you're sure about this, I'll schedule an adoption hearing for the sixteenth of September," she said as he flipped through the papers. "Normally we would have Tom stay here with us until the hearing, but in this case I suggest he live with you."

"To get to know him better?" he asked.

Glancing back up at him, Mable replied, "Yes, and for him to get to know you better as well. I don't know whether or not Martha told you this, but we don't give our consent for adoptions unless the child agrees to it. There is always a chance he'll reject you as his parent at first, and I can't promise he'll warm up to you."

Montgomery smiled, "I am aware of that."

"Are you sure you'd like to adopt him?" Mable asked, offering him one last chance to turn back.

He only chuckled and nodded, "I'm positive."

After looking over the papers one last time, Mable rose from her seat and walked towards the door, motioning for Montgomery to follow her.

She led him to a door on the second floor of the orphanage, which she knocked on. When no reply came, she knocked again and called out, "Tom? Are you in there?" before opening the door.

All that was inside the room was a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk; its occupant was no where in sight. Mable stepped into the room and looked around, noticing that there were several books left open on the desk. This struck her as odd, since Tom never left his books out.

Just as she was about to speak, there was a faint hissing sound. At first she thought she had just imagined it, but then she heard it again. That time Montgomery seemed to hear it as well, as he began to glance around to room as if he was looking for something.

After several moments of looking around for the source of the hissing, both of them turned their gaze to the wardrobe. Stepping in front of the wardrobe, Mable grabbed its handles. As soon as she did this, a small gasp came from within the wardrobe. Sighing, Mable opened the wardrobe, revealing its contents to her and Montgomery. Upon seeing the contents of the wardrobe, Mable let out a horrified shriek and Montgomery gasped.

Inside the wardrobe were the clothes of the room's occupant, a worn out pair of shoes and a tarnished metal box. These however, were not the cause of the adults worry and fright. What did cause it, were two objects one would not expect to find in a child's wardrobe.

The first of these objects was a small boy by the name of Tom Riddle, who nervously looked up at the adults in front of him. The second of these objects was a full grown adder, which was wrapped around the boy's neck like a scarf.