When Harry walked into the Great Hall that morning, he had to force himself to walk to the Slytherin table.
Even on the fringes it was easy to see the chatter around Tom Riddle was strained. Either the Heir never noticed how tense everyone was around him, or he never cared. Harry suspected it was the latter, and felt himself mildly curious as to what had transpired.
Pouring himself a cup of coffee - he had became addicted to it when studying for his OWL's, much to Hermione's disapproval - he felt himself come slowly to life.
He had always been at the centre of attention back in Gryffindor. It was oddly nice to have some peace and quiet, although part of him was curious as to why the Slytherin's weren't asking him any questions.
Had he really made that bad an impression as not to warrant any interest?
Probably.
Harry mentally shrugged. It wasn't like he would be hanging around in this time period for long. He could even feel the cool metal of the Time-turner resting against his chest. His one last remnant of home reminding him how easily it would be to slip out of this year and into another.
It was comforting, but bittersweet all the same.
54 turns would take him a year before it happened. He could see his friends happy, not caring about the future, their thoughts only on exams, and maybe the next Quidditch match.
They would be alive.
It would be so easy to go back, to see their faces one more time. However, if he succeeded here, he could see them again regardless. He just had to wait.
Numbly he accepted his timetable from Slughorn. The Head of House, much to Harry's relief, wasn't interested in him, merely offering a 'Good luck' before moving on to the next pupil.
At least there were small mercies in this time period.
Then he saw he had Defence Against The Dark Arts first.
The one class he knew Tom Riddle would definitely be in.
Brilliant.
'How did he ever think he could kill the Dark Lord?' and 'This was not a good idea,'were only some of the thoughts crossing Harry's mind, as Riddle gave the class a demonstration.
In sharp contrast to him was Professor Merrythought, her wizened face grinning from behind too big spectacles at who she deemed her protégé.
The demonstration in question was only a shield charm, but Harry could feel the raw magic pulsing beneath the relatively simple spell.
Quite simply, he was screwed.
Partly he wondered if he was the only one who could feel this. Maybe years of duelling Voldemort had maybe left an imprint of his magical signature on his psyche? Or maybe everyone was just used to it even?
Still, Harry wondered how anyone could get used to that. The hairs on his arms stood right up to attention, and it was only through will power alone he never automatically started firing spells in response.
A girl in the front row was almost drooling for Merlin's sake! How was that power attractive? It pretty much triggered every 'Fight or Flight' emotion in his body, surely it was the same for her?
The wink she shot the Heir as he sat down made Harry doubt this somewhat.
The rising nausea in his stomach made him glad he hadn't eaten at breakfast.
"Now class, Mr Riddle just gave an excellent demonstration of the Shield Charm - ten points to Slytherin. Find a partner, and practice this using stunners only! Remember, the incantation is protego. Chop, chop!"
Harry looked around, seeing everyone join off into pairs. A small twinge of sadness resounded in his chest, as he remembered these lessons with Ron and Hermione.
Here he had no one. He was just the new boy.
The Time-turner grew a little more tempting.
"Harry," came a cold voice from behind him, and he turned, seeing Riddle staring at him expectantly.
Shit. No partner was better than this!
"Tom?" Harry injected a question into his voice, seeing with delight the Heir's posture stiffen in response.
"I believe you need a partner," Tom's voice was polite, but Harry the undertones made Harry's stomach drop a bit.
"I can find one myself," he replied hurriedly, the urge to get away from the prefect only amplifying as the conversation dragged on.
"You already have one." The authoritative tone in Riddle's voice would have been hard to miss, and Harry saw a few of the Death Eaters look confused, before concealing it quickly behind their Pureblood masks.
"Great." Harry was sure Riddle picked up on the nervous twinge in his voice, for the elder's eyebrows raised slightly, before nodding, and moving back so they could duel.
"Remember, it's protego, Harry," and Harry chose to ignore the semi-patronising tone, opting for a defensive stance instead.
Riddle smirked, sending a stunner his way with a lazy flick of his wand. Automatically Harry raised his own, the spell already on his lips.
Tom's only response was to fire another.
And another.
By the time the lesson ended, Harry felt like a had went eight rounds with the Basilisk.
Tom looked relatively unruffled, but their was a gleam in his eyes that Harry decided very quickly he didn't like.
When Professor Merrythought dismissed them, he saw her eyes land approvingly on him.
He guessed not everyone paired with the Heir could keep up.
Shaking it off, he left the classroom, following a gaggle of Gryffindors to Potions, and feeling Tom's eyes on him the whole way.
The guy could seriously get a job as a professional stalker.
That is if world domination didn't work out.
It was during Potions Harry decided on his game plan.
From what he knew of Riddle, he collected people based on power, and only surrounded himself with the best.
Surely if he was mediocre in everything he would be ignored? Then when the time came to kill him, it could be a surprise attack.
Simple, right?
It was only after he got a lecture from Slughorn about Potions safety that Harry realised blowing up his cauldron wasn't the best start.
Still, it got Riddle's attention, and as he left the classroom, he heard Malfoy - there was no mistaking the blond hair - whispering how idiotic he was, the rest of the Death Eaters chuckling at it.
Looks like a good start.
By the end of the week, Harry was getting so many pitying looks from his teachers he found it almost amusing.
Dippet had even sent him a note asking if he needed counselling.
He probably did, but not for escaping the Air Raids.
The nightmares were as bad as ever, he was just glad none of the Slytherin's had noticed how heavily he had warded his bed.
They may just be teenagers, but that never made them any less capable of causing harm.
Still, it appeared Riddle had lost all interest in him, and as he sat with Nathan and Dimanda, he almost felt like this was normal.
The two fifth years had taken pity on him and on day three finally spoken to him.
They were lovely, and Harry could see that, but they weren't Ron and Hermione, and he couldn't help but compare.
"The first Quidditch match is coming up in a few weeks, it's Slytherin against Ravenclaw," said Nathan happily, buttering a piece of toast.
"I've heard that Lupin has been planning a new strategy all summer," chimed in Di, running her fingers through her strawberry blond hair, trying to make it resemble less of a haystack.
"Who's Lupin?" he asked, feeling his interest rise a little.
As far as he was concerned he was here for a job, but if he could meet any of his friends ancestors it would be a pretty cool bonus.
"Andrew Lupin, he's the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Complete bookworm, but since he was made captain the team has gotten better," replied Nathan bitterly.
"Oh, okay," Harry said, pretending to have lost interest. Di and Nathan exchanged a worried glance. All they knew was that he had lost his family, and so they never questioned when he withdrew. Probably thought it was part of the healing process.
They couldn't be further away from the truth.
However, it was a slight comfort to know he had a link, no matter how small, to his friends.
Maybe there was a Potter here too?
No, he shouldn't speculate on that. He wouldn't be here long enough to know them, and if he did it could wreck the timeline more than he planned on doing.
Still, it was nice knowing they were here too.
A/N: Thank you so much for the response to this! I'm sorry this is later than I had planned, I have three essays to write for next weekend, so my fanfiction time should be non-existent - although I couldn't resist writing a little of this, and somehow cobbled together a chapter… Why can't I do that with my essays? Updates should be weekly, but I will always try to update faster than that. :)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter. *sigh*
Anonymous Review Replies:
Bluebird - Thank you! I'm happy you're enjoying this so far! :D