AN: In my story, I think I made Harry a bit OOC. I mean it isn't drastic, but this is what I inmagine him to be after the war has ended. There are some things that I altered to make my story make sense, but it isn't something too drastic. Also, Harry is about 23 in this story although it doesn't say so. Enjoy!

Harry Potter, resident "boy-who-lived was walking down a street, not just any street, but one from almost 50 years ago.

He had just a few weeks ago, defeated You-know-…, no Voldemort when he had an idea. A crazy idea, most thought, but as he saw Voldemort falling, he felt a stab of pain. Guilt, perhaps? He wasn't sure. But that spilt second of doubt had left him confused. Did he feel sorry for Voldemort? Harry wondered amusedly. Someone had told him that Voldemort's childhood had been similar to his. Maybe that's why he turned out so crooked. Harry thought.

Everybody praised him when he had killed Voldemort and he was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class… he was even offered to become the Ministry of Magic, but of course he refused. All he ever wanted was a normal life.

Then, a brilliant idea came to him. What if Voldemort never existed? All this suffering would have never existed and he would have had his parents and led a normal life.

His idea was to go back in time, time when Lord Voldemort was still young and not corrupted by the Dark Arts, a time when he was just Tom Riddle. He would guide Tom in the right direction, and Lord Voldemort would not exist.

Harry snapped out of his thoughts. He had arrived at his destination, the orphanage where Tom lived. He took a deep breath and went in. A woman greeted him rather coldly, he noted, but ignored it. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

"May I help you?" The woman asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"Yes, I'm Harry Potter and I want to adopt a young boy." He said as Slytherinish as possible. Inside, harry chuckled. 'Malfoy would have been proud.' He thought.

The woman spoke, successfully, breaking him out of his thought. "What kind of child are you looking for? What age? What hair color, personality?"

"Actually, I'm looking for a young boy named Tom Riddle, is he here?" Harry asked, very casually.

"Yes, but…" the woman looked at him suspiciously. "Why?" She asked.

"I have my reason, err… Mrs. Cole," he said after looking at her nametag. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't pry into my private affairs. If there is no trouble, I'd like to adopt him."

"Th..that's fine." She said taken back. "It's just… never mind." She said shaking her head. Then she motioned one of her fellow workers and told her to bring Tom Riddle.

As they were waiting, Harry signed the adoption forms and all the legal paperwork, in order to adopt Tom Riddle. There was a knock on the door and the woman with Tom Riddle appeared.

"Ere he is, Mrs. Cole." She said as she not too gently pushed the young boy in. The boy looked at Harry suspiciously, then looked at Mrs. Cole for an explanation.

She briefly explained that this man wanted to adopt him, and he had just signed the adoption papers. Tom merely nodded, although his eyes looked wary.

"I was told that you went to a boarding school, is this true, Tom?" Harry asked politely. Tom immediately stiffened. He slowly turned his head towards harry.

"Yes," he replied stiffly, he looked uncomfortable, Harry noted. Harry had to inwardly laugh at the sight. Lord Voldemort, looking uncomfortable in front of Harry Potter.

"Well," Harry said, standing up. "I guess we should get going now that all the paperwork is done, isn't that right, Mrs. Cole?" He asked looking at the Matron. She merely nodded. And stood up.

"I bid you a good day sir." And she left. Harry looked that the still suspicious looking Tom and grinned at him.

"Come on, he said, let's go to your new house."

As they walked to their house, Harry was inwardly debating whether to tell him if he was a wizard or not. When he looked at Tom, who was following him quietly, he once again chuckled at the scowling Tom Riddle.

After a long walk, they finally arrived at Godric's Hollow (which Harry came earlier and cleaned out). It was now a cozy home, not too big, not too small. Tom Riddle stared at his new home with uncertainty. Harry led him inside the house and gave him a quick tour. Then he led Tom to the sitting room.

"I think we have a lot to talk about." Harry answered Tom's questioning looks. Tom scowled, but complied.

"Alright, first, do you have any questions to ask me?" Harry asked.

"Why did you adopt me?" Tom asked.

"I adopted you because I wanted to; do I have to have a reason why?" Harry asked. Tom looked at Harry unbelievingly, but let it pass.

"Who are you and where is this place?" he asked.

"My name is Harry Potter…" at this Tom's eyes widened slightly at the mention of a wizard last name but shook his head slightly at the thought, "and this is my home." Harry said, carefully, not giving out any more information then needed.

"Alright, now it's my turn" said Harry. "I just have a few rules. You respect me, and I'll respect you. Your curfew is strictly 9:00 pm, and wake up time is to your choice, as long as it's reasonable. Also, you will need to help out around the house, yes, you'll be doing chores…" at that Tom scowled.

"I will not be doing slave work!" he said angrily.

"They're not slave work," Harry said calmly. "You and I are the only ones living in this house, surely you don't expect me to do all the work?" at this, Tom muttered something incomprehensible, but Harry chose to ignore it as he continued. "You'll just need to do a few chores when I ask you to. You'll be cleaning up your own room, of course, making your own bed and washing your dishes."

Tom was darkly muttering something along the lines of, "Stupid bloody muggle, I just want to hex him to obliviation."

Then Harry decided to tell Tom that he was a wizard. "Tom, I will be needing your wand. Harry said. Tom looked up sharply.

"You…you know?"

Harry merely held out his hand for the wand. Tom scowled darkly once again, but complied. Harry then, to Tom's surprise, took out his own wand and muttered a spell at Tom's wand. Then he gave it back to him.

"You're a wizard too? Asked a shocked Tom. Then he quizkly regained his posture then muttered, "Of course, Potter, that's a wizard's last name. I should've known." Then said a little more clearly. "What did you do to my wand? Tom asked suspiciously.

"I just erased the tracking spell on your wand from the ministry. He told Tom. Tom smirked, as he thought about all the magic he could do over the summer and not get caught. Then to Tom's utter disappointment. Harry spoke.

"Of course, you'll only be able to do simple curses, not the complicated ones, and all the spells that you use will be written down on a parchment for me to monitor. I'm not a very trusting person, Tom, so you'll have to earn my trust." With that, Harry went up to his room and retired for the night.

As he laid in bed, he looked at the photo of his two best friends…his now deceased best friends. He felt a tear trickle down his cheeks and didn't bother to wipe them off. It was all his fault. It was all his fault that they were dead.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Remus, Moody, Ginny, Professor Dumbledore, Tonks, Neville, Luna, and most of Order was dead or wounded severely in the Final Battle. The only ones that remained were Him and Draco Malfoy.

Draco turned to the light side after his father went to Azkaban and Snape killed Professor Dumbledore, and became one of his best friends. He was badly injured and laid unconscious in St. Mungos right now.

That night, Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, once again cried himself to sleep.

After a couple days, he and Tom developed a truce and Tom, although unwillingly, helped out occasionally. Actually, Harry grew quite fond of the boy and his Slytherinish reserved ways. Tom spent most of his free time in the library but one day, he surprised Harry by asking him a question.

"Harry, you're last name is Potter, is it not?" Tom asked. Harry just simply nodded.

"Why do you ask?" He questioned.

"Just wondering," said Tom. Harry looked at him with his eyebrows raised.

"I was just wondering why my last name isn't in this book." He held up a book called, "The Book of Purebloods."It includes all the pureblood names and traces it back to its origin. But "Riddle" isn't in here, and I was wondering why."

Harry sighed. "Tom, you may not like hearing this, but you aren't a pureblood. Your Father, Tom Riddle Senior is a muggle. He lives just a couple towns away from here."

At this Tom's face stone white. "You lie," he whispered. "I'm a pureblood, I'm no Halfblood." He spat out the word Halfblood as if it were a disease.

"Why would I lie to you Tom," asked Harry.

"If he really is my father," Tom said disgustingly, then why am I not living with him? Why did I not know that I had a father until now?"

"Tom, please sit down." Said Harry tiredly. "I'll explain everything." Tom sat down after thinking briefly. He needed to find out more about his family so he obeyed Harry and sat down.

"Your father is a muggle, and your mother was a witch. She loved your father very much and used a love potion on him; however, she truly loved him and wanted to keep him with her without a potion, so she released him from the potion and told him that she was a witch. She believed that he would stay with her even if she told him everything. However, Tom Riddle Senior left your mom as soon as he found out that she was a witch. He never loved her, so he never acknowledged you as his child; therefore, you don't exist to him. Actually, I don't think he doesn't know you exist."

"Then let me adopt your last name." Tom asked Harry after thinking for a while. "You're a pureblood, and you adopted me, so technically, you're my parent."

"Actually, Tom, I'm not a pureblood either. My father was a pureblood, but he married a muggleborn." Tom scowled darkly at this.

"I still want to adopt your name though," he said. Harry looked at him surprised.

"Why?" he asked.

"At least I could pretend that you're a pureblood since your last name is in The Book of Purebloods.

Harry laughed at Tom's thinking. He indeed was clever for his age and was eager to learn new things. He really was one of the brightest person that existed. Even at the young age of 13, he showed great talent, and Harry new that this great talent could be used for good or bad.

He suddenly remembered Mr. Ollivander's words, "We expect great things from you Mr. Potter, after all, You-know-who did great things. Terrible, yes, but great."

Harry decided to amuse Tom so he agreed.

Harry however, decided to keep Tom's mother's maiden name a secret. There's no point to encourage Tom by telling him that he was one of the only living close descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Tom and he were the only closely related heirs of Slytherin. Also, his Potter lineage traced back to Godric Gryffindor, the link that Voldemort gave him, also made him related closely to Salazar Slytherin. Gaunt…the closest descendents of Slytherin, there was no good in telling Tom that. Yes, for now, he'll keep it a secret.

The next morning, there was a knock at the door, and Harry opened the door to reveal…Dumbledore.

AN: Thanks for reading my story! Please Review! Constructive Critisms are welcomed, but no flames please. If you have any suggestions, please tell me, maybe I can incorporate it into my story. Also, if i got anything wrong, please tell me, like names and such. Thanks!