Tom Riddle had spent the last ten minutes gazing out a window not registering anything that he was seeing and spending most of that time ruminating in his thoughts. By all means Tom was a strange child, no matter what anyone thought he was more mature than most and tended to be honest with himself whenever possible. As such he had broached the topic of having to kill someone in potential cold blood before.
However that was the problem. He had broached the topic with himself and even decided that he might have to kill someone eventually to get what he wanted. He had settled that with himself, had deemed it a necessary sacrifice on his quest for power. However when he met Harrison Peverell everything had changed. All thoughts of any potential homicides had left his mind and he had willingly and happily immersed himself in the thought that Harry would teach him everything he would need to know.
When Harry had told him that he had nearly killed that girl though, Tom hadn't been prepared for that kind of bombshell. He didn't know how to feel with himself, he had nearly killed someone for no reason. He might be able to justify murder if it advanced his goals, but that girl's death would have been senseless, a waste of a life.
Now not only had he potentially killed someone senselessly, but he had then proceeded to show weakness to Harry by running from his study without an excuse. Now Harry might not teach him any magic, because Tom had shown him that he was weak, and no one liked weakness.
Tom was broken out of his reverie when he heard a sharp crack from in front of him and he noticed that the window was now sporting a rather large crack. Flushing with embarrassment Tom walked away, hoping no one would find out.
This was great after that revelation Tom was having trouble controlling his power now. At this rate Harry might just send Tom back to Wool's. Tom was rather dejected and decided that he would just go pack his things to make it easier for Harry to kick him out, since Tom was pretty sure that was going to happen.
When Tom found his room again he paused in the doorway and examined his room. While is was still mostly spartan, the addition of the books Harry had purchased for Tom gave the room some personality, though not much. With a despondent sigh Tom pulled his suitcase out and began to gather his clothes, when he was finished with that he went over to his bookcase and began to grab those as well before he paused and sat on his bed looking at the books.
While Harry had gotten them for Tom, they were still magical books and due to being purchased by Harry he wasn't sure if he would be able to keep them so he just sat on his bed staring at them.
Tom didn't know what to do, he wanted to keep the books and he really wanted to stay and learn but there was no way Harry would let him stay after he had almost killed someone. Tom was so distracted that he didn't notice Harry enter the room, nor did he notice the wet spot appearing on the cover of the book he was looking at.
"Tom, what are you doing?" Harry asked as he strode into the room. Tom said nothing but Harry noticed the book in his hands and the semi-packed suitcase on the bed. Without saying a word Harry walked towards Tom and sat beside him. Still in silence Harry grabbed the book from Tom's hands and turned his head to look at him. "Tom," Harry finally said breaking the silence. "Why are you crying?"
Tom sat there for a few seconds just staring into Harry's eyes, barely able to really see them through his tears before he managed to speak. "Please don't send me away Harry," he said as he began to cry harder. "I'm sorry I almost hurt that girl, but please don't send me away."
Harry was taken aback. Once more he was reminded that right now Tom was, in fact, a child. He wasn't some grown megalomaniac bent on world domination (or at least country domination) he was a young boy with his own fears and insecurities. Going off instinct Harry reached out and pulled Tom into his arms and held him there in silence.
Tom took this opportunity and collapsed into Harry's arms and gave off body wracking sobs. He had gone through a lot of emotional upheaval in a short amount of time and his young mind wasn't quite prepared for that yet. After a few minutes of Tom crying he eventually calmed down from sobs to sniffles and Harry pulled him away just far enough so that they could make eye contact.
"I will never send you away Thomas. Never." Harry said firmly. "That is something you will never have to worry about, I promise." Tom just nodded his head before he hugged Harry again, wanting some more comfort. After a few more seconds of this Harry stood and looked at Tom. "Now, I want you to put your clothes back and put the suitcase away, you need to get ready as the McGonagalls will be here soon. Okay?"
"Yes Harry." Tom said as he wiped his eyes. Harry nodded, stood and left the room. Tom watched him go and once he left he scowled to himself. He showed weakness twice in one night, that wasn't acceptable! In that moment Tom made an oath to himself to never need comforting like that again.
Harry lit another cigarette as he made his way towards the floo fireplace to wait for his guests. He looked down at his empty pack with a sigh. With all the stress he was getting from trying to teach Tom, even in just a day was going to cause him to get cancer from all the smoking he was doing, magical resistance or not.
Harry had not expected Tom to react that way at all. In all honesty he had imagined his relationship with Tom to deteriorate some after their confrontation in his study. He had been warned of Tom's behaviour by Pinky and had made his way towards the boy's room expecting to see it in disarray or something similar due to Tom's anger. Finding the young boy crying and then having him beg to stay was uniquely jarring. With all that was happening Harry sincerely hoped that this dinner went off without a hitch and that the next few weeks were relatively peaceful for him, outside of him teaching Tom anyway.
Harry settled into a chair facing towards the floo fireplace and lost himself even deeper to his thoughts. This time, though, they were tuned towards the curriculum that Harry wanted to teach Tom. While he couldn't Teach him any wanded subjects yet due to his age and Harry's reluctance to skirt the law and get him a wand, he could begin teaching him stuff like potions and runes. Though considering the book Tom and MInerva had started their little fight with Harry would need to include divination on that list. As for wandless teaching, Harry was still undecided. Aside from the fact the he wanted Tom to get occlumency down first, Harry wasn't sure where to begin. He didn't want to teach Tom anything aggressive until he was sure he could trust him, his almost murder of Minerva was proof positive that Harry certainly couldn't trust Tom yet. So that left basic stuff, levitation and the like. While levitation could be used irresponsible and could kill someone if used right, Harry wasn't expecting Tom to do anything like that as there were more direct ways he could hurt people with powers he already had if that was his goal
Though, Harry could teach some defensive stuff, the protego and others like it for instance. He could even begin to teach Tom the basics of the patronus charm, though it would be awhile before he was able to do that with a wand, nevermind wandlessly. Still while those of a darker disposition were still able to use a patronus charm, it was noticeably weaker so Harry would be able to use that a sort of measuring stick to tell if Tom was still treading a darker path.
That also brought up the fact that Harry didn't want to be too overbearing. No matter your problems with the man, one thing everyone had to agree on about Dumbledore was that he was quite overbearing and tried to shove his opinions down others throats, something Harry definitely didn't want to emulate so while he tried to keep Tom on the straight and narrow, he couldn't force him to drop some of his dark character traits, that would only alienate Tom and make this entire experiment completely pointless and a waste of time, something Harry wasn't willing to do.
Harry retrieved another cigarette and lit it, figuring that he was probably going to get cancer at the rate he was going, nevermind the protection magic gave to his body.
Harry had just lit the cigarette when Clyde appeared before him with a muffled popping sound. Harry raised an eyebrow and slid the cigarette back into the pack before standing with a groan. It seemed he had been sitting there for awhile.
Right on cue the fireplace in front of Harry burst into green flames and two figures step from it in quick succession. Harry gave a genial smile and raised a hand.
"Madame McGonagall, so nice of you to make it."
"Likewise Mr. Peverell." Margaret responded shaking his hand. Harry gave a cordial greeting to her daughter too. He then turned towards the elf that had been standing there quietly.
"Clyde, would please gather young Thomas? Inform him that it is time for dinner."
"Yes Master Harry."
Harry turned towards his guests waving an arm in front of them beckoning them forward. "If you would please follow me to the dining room, the meal should begin shortly."
So I know that this is both ridiculously short and ridiculously late, but I thought that getting a chapter out there before you all forgot about the story was best. Anyway enough excuses, if you have any suggestions or criticisms feel free to leave a review. See you next chapter.
