Verde stood in place, frozen solid.

He had no idea what to do. He had no idea about parenting, period. It had been going so well, Leo had accepted him to an extent and had been willing to get to know him, to give him a chance.

Yet now the child was hysterical, he could not do anything but watch like a statue as Viper frantically ascertained that everything had turned out as it should have.

Leo had passed out for a solid few minutes once the ritual had been completed. Passing out even for a few seconds is already dangerous, so they had been understandably worried. Nothing they had done had allowed him to wake up.

Verde was convinced he had been close to a heart attack from the relief he felt when Leo finally woke up. All he wanted to do now was hug him and never let him go again.

Instead, he evaded the hit Viper was unconsciously about to deliver to his cheek as they fluttered around his grandson, casting spells and muttering to themselves.

"Leo? Leo, are you alright? What happened? Why are you crying!?"

He cursed the fact that his voice sounded shaky. He finally got his act together a little and tried to calm the child down by talking. The books said hugs were the most ideal but talking calmly was a close second, apparently. Dear Lord, he wasn't made for this. Wasn't parenting supposed to be instinctual or something? Why was he floundering so much already!?

"T-Tom… *hic*, h-he… NOOoo"

Leo shook off Viper's prodding hands and curled into a tight ball as he sobbed.

Alarmed, Verde and Viper shared a look over the child's head.

Viper nodded at Verde, indicating that, from what they could tell, Leo was still himself, the horcrux was indeed gone and all was as it should be.

Then, they fled the room. They had never been the best with children and decided to leave them some privacy, the traitor.

The door closed behind them with an ominous click, making him flinch.

'Oh, stop being dramatic', Verde angrily scolded himself, 'The door closing did not sound ominous and this situation is definitely not scary.'

Verde shook himself and forced himself to approach his small, well big if compared to his current size, grandson.

He wasn't big enough to scoop the kid up like he felt the urge to. Which was perhaps not a bad thing. He doubted the youth would have reacted favourably to suddenly being lifted. This way, he would not make THAT mistake, at least.

Thus, he settled for gently petting his hair and running soothing circles along his back, all the while blabbering reassurances.

"It's alright, Leo. You'll be okay, you're safe. Nobody can hurt you now."

Sappy phrases like these continued to spill from his mouth, and for once, Verde wouldn't even have cared if anyone was watching, any thoughts of embarrassment or how others may view his actions gone from his mind.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his actions seemed to work. Sobs turned to sniffles and his shaking relaxed into a slight rocking motion.

'Maybe I'm not completely hopeless at this after all', Verde thought in relief.

Leo felt miserable. His chest ached and he was half convinced he was breathing some sort of smoke with how raw his throat felt just then. Tom was gone, his friend was gone. He had finally made one, a real one. Someone warm and kind and… and lost him just as quickly.

Was he not meant to have one?

'No', he scolded himself, reminded by the tiny hand on his back, 'I knew he'd vanish right from the start.'

Yet, he had still befriended the shard. He had been so gentle, so nice, so understanding. Nothing at all like he had imagined the villain that took his parents from him to look and act like. He had become curious and shortly thereafter… let his guard down.

But, if his words could be believed, Tom wasn't that person. He desperately wanted to believe them, yet… he had no idea why. Why did he trust Tom so easily, why did he believe every word the other said? Why was he so affected by his loss? Why?

It didn't feel right, something didn't feel right, yet… he couldn't bring himself to care or hate it, any of it. He had truly enjoyed the time they had spent together.

It hurt.

He missed that place.

His grip on his knees tightened as he mentally replayed the time they spent there once more. It had been so peaceful there… He almost wished he could go back and never return.

Yet…

"G-grandpa Verde?", he flushed. His voice sounded really small and pathetic from crying like that

"Yes, Leo?"

Leo had nearly forgotten. In his grief and because of the pain he suddenly felt in his heart, he had nearly broken his promise. That wouldn't do. Promises weren't things to be broken.

'At least', he swore to himself silently, mind flashing back to empty promises and sweet temptations that always ended in pain and disappointment, 'I don't want to be such a person, ever.'

Thus, Leo started his explanation.

"That is… at the end of the ritual when I passed out, I actually met him."

Verde had a sinking feeling in his stomach. It couldn't be…

"I met Tom Riddle."

-o('^')o-

Verde silently closed the door to Leo's room. The child had finally fallen asleep.

He felt… tired.

The revelations of the past hour had been… enlightening, to a degree, but most of all they had been deeply concerning.

What unsettled him the most was the sheer trust and reverence his traumatized grandson seemed to regard the murderer of his parents, of Lily, with.

From the expression on his face, offended, defensive, angry, when he had asked about that fact, Verde had refrained from poking any more holes into the perfect image Leo had created of the man.

There had been no tampering done to his grandson's mind, according to Viper. He would ask them to check again.

He really, really hoped the mist user was wrong, because if they weren't… Verde knew very well what that meant.

If they weren't… Leo had just lost his sky. His small, way-too-young grandson may just have lost a flame bond.

The possibility was just too harrowing to consider.

Verde closed his suddenly burning eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, suddenly feeling even older than his actual age.

Somehow… he would also have to find a way to thoroughly disabuse the boy of any notion he may have developed of helping that man. He could and would not lend a hand to the man who had killed his daughter, regardless of what had led to the action.

The madman had robbed him of his most precious person, his daughter, and just as they had begun bonding properly as well, after all his mistakes. He had robbed Verde of the chance to properly make up his shortcomings to his baby girl. That was not something Verde could forgive.

That was something to think of later, however.

There were more pressing matters right now.

He had to re-examine his cover-ups once again, for one. Next was, to come up with even more contingencies in case of discovery by the main soul of that lunatic.

Mayhaps he could even look into destroying the rest of the murderer's horcruxes to assure himself the man would not return… That was, of course, a course of action he would have to plan and consider most carefully… and secretly.

The man had indicated that Albus Dumbledore himself would also need to be guarded against. He would have to tailor some of his contingency plans for the eventuality that the man was an enemy. While he currently couldn't be sure about that, being cautious wouldn't hurt. If the shard did not deceive them, then all the better. If he had, no harm done. It wasn't like Verde planned to foolishly charge in and antagonize the man.

Finally, a trustworthy and capable Occlumency teacher needed to be hired for Leo as soon as possible. Preferably yesterday.

Perhaps the most important point though, in Verde's opinion, was honing Leo's logical and analytical thinking skills. The child needed to learn not to neglect certain factors when judging a situation and not to be so fast to get invested.

While Leo had indeed gotten a taste of the cruelty of the world, he was still a child. He was still somewhat naïve and altogether too trusting, despite the circumstances. He would have to make sure that changed once he grew up and was ready for it.

Ripping the rose-coloured glasses from someone's face was never an easy thing to do. If done wrongly, the person could be irreversibly traumatized, or it could have the opposite effect from the intended.

Plus… Leo may well come to hate him for doing it.

No, he would have to consider his approach most carefully. For now, he forcefully shelved those thoughts. He was awfully flustered, and his way of thinking was suffering for it. It wouldn't do to be hasty with important decisions.

No, he had fallen into that trap before, he was not about to repeat the same mistake.

Getting started on Occlumency, that was the most pressing problem to be addressed currently.

That was actually another issue he had wanted Viper's help with. The informant was his best bet at finding someone he could somewhat trust with Leo's as of yet unguarded mind. Occlumency had been a must even before this mess. The current situation just made it more urgent.

With a long-suffering sigh and a dawning headache, Verde pushed open the door to the meeting room where Viper was awaiting his return and joined his fellow cursed infant for some calming tea.

Viper listened quietly as Verde relayed what Leo had told him, ending with the request that Verde knew he could never agree to. The request to help his daughter's murderer.

The resulting silence stretched on as Viper stared at him.

He couldn't tell what they were thinking, their expression hidden below their trusty hood.

Finally, they sighed, muttering something under their breath that sounded suspiciously like "Troublesome… And here I always thought REBORN was the troublemaker of the group… don't get paid enough for this…"

"So", they finally asked aloud. "What are we going to go about it?"

We. They wouldn't leave Verde to fend for himself. He… honestly couldn't start to put into words how much that relieved him.

The silence continued once more as Verde thought.

"First", he started ", we need to decide on an Occlumency tutor. Even if the shard lied to Leo, all that'd happen is that he learns occluding, sorting, and protecting his mind."

"Mou…", the hooded toddler nodded in agreement. They hesitated for a second before grudgingly continuing. "I'll give you a discount."

Verde blinked at them in shock. Had he misheard?

"Why am I even telling you this…", the toddler grumbled but still decided to explain.

"From what Leo told us, he very well could have lost control of his mind, had Riddle not decided to change personalities. That means… I made a mistake. My information was incomplete"

The last words sounded forced. Understandably. Viper never agreed to help without thorough research and preparation. Their knowledge and information gathering was their pride. Ever since the curse, they were even more cautious. The fact that they had overlooked something and put the protegee of one of his few true friends at risk… it was grating. They had to make up for it somehow. Yet, despite the guilt they felt, they just couldn't bring themselves to offer their help for free.

"In return", they hastily added, making it seem like a demand rather than the peace offering it was, "I want to be present until the assembly is complete and study the phenomenon."

That's right. In other words, he was offering to watch over Leo for free… for a year.

Verde was flabbergasted. True, something unexpected had happened and he had secretly blamed the Mist for it at least a little... Subconsciously though, he had admitted that Viper would've been the only one he'd ever have trusted with Leo, despite slightly more accomplished options being available. Yet, he had never thought… the other would react like this.

Times like this once more illustrated why he had befriended and trusted the miser.

He smiled gratefully.

"I would also like your counsel on the other tutors I plan on hiring for Leo. Yet, for obvious reasons, the Occlumency instructor should be contacted and hired as soon as possible"

Viper nodded. "Give me a list of subjects and I'll see whom I can find. It will cost you though. Full price."

Verde's lips twitched. The world made sense again.

"Of course. Let me know the amount later. Then, let's talk about candidates…", Verde started, only to trail off as someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Bob."

"Come in."

Bob did so. He stepped two steps forward before stopping and nodding at Verde and Viper in greeting.

"Sir, there's a visitor outside"

Verde's gaze sharply zeroed in on his face. No alarm had been sounded, meaning that the visitor was one of the very few people he had on his safe list, or they were too powerful for them to stop.

"Aria of the Giglio Nero asks to speak with you"

Well, Shit.

Author's Note:

Happy new year everyone! I hope you had a great start into 2021 and stay healthy and happy throughout the year! Thank you for all the love and support you've shown my story and myself, I really appreciate it!

Answers to questions asked in the reviews can be found on my profile, like always! I'd like to thank everyone who took a little time to leave their thoughts and questions below. I read and appreciate all of you!

The guest who left half an outline to a future possibility of the story (Dec 20)... that sounds like something I'd definitely read. Nice! I'm so happy my story managed to trigger your imagination and speculation like this!

Love you all! Stay happy and stay safe! I'll see you around!