Intro

This prompt comes from my husband. I didn't like it because the idea was too much for my head to get around for a short quick chapter / short story type thing. It would take much more thought and a longer more involved story… I mean, it required actual character building because it would involve an OC...

I was talking this afternoon to Elipsa and we came up with an altered version of his prompt… then this idea came along … so here we are.

- Day 23 -

Life as the Master Of Death was… interesting and often inconvenient. Not always of course, Harry mostly carried on with his life as best as he could, but sometimes the Hallows decided to take him to different times and insert him for a while within the lives of those that held them in the past. So far it had happened to him on five separate occasions. It was as if the Hallows had a mind of their own. Harry wasn't certain there was a reason for these trips, but he had no choice in the matter.

Much like now…

Harry found himself walking down a Muggle street on the outskirts of London. He wasn't sure where he was walking to or from, or for what purpose, but thanks to past experiences, knew he'd figure it out when he drew closer to his destination. Harry simply had to follow his instincts.

He paused at the newsstand on the corner and glanced at the date on the corner of the newspaper. It was the 20th of August in the year 1938. Harry frowned as a sense of déjà vu swept over him. He hadn't been born yet, so it had nothing to do with his own past, but there was something eerily familiar with his current surroundings.

Harry closed his eyes briefly and bit back a sigh. It wasn't as bad as his last trip, he supposed. That last trip down the Hallows' memories, Harry found himself in quite an awkward position. Harry woke up firmly wrapped around another body… a female, to be certain as his right hand was on her ample breast.

That wasn't necessarily the awkward part. No, Harry woke up as his great-great-great-great… great-great… or just great… grandfather. Harry wasn't sure how many greats, just that the man was definitely a Potter with the same wild black hair and his father's hazel eyes. Meaning the woman that he was fondling was his however-many-greats grandmother.

Harry was mortified. Thankfully he woke up moments before she did and was out of the bed before he was dragged into an even more horrifying situation… small favors, and all.

As he continued down the street, Harry looked at his reflection in a window. To his surprise, though really it shouldn't have surprised him since he knew the man owned the Elder Wand at one point, Harry found he was inhabiting the body of Albus Dumbledore.

He removed his fedora and took a long look at himself… at Albus. His hair was already going gray, but it was still somewhat stylish for the times. His beard was short and full, but what really made Harry mentally roll his eyes was the purple suit he was wearing. Honestly, the man had no taste in clothing. At least it was a suit and not the garish robes he favored in his later years with the silly pointed hats. Harry wondered if it was always an issue with all eccentric old wizards or was it something that Albus decided to do the older he got.

Harry-Albus started walking again as he planted the hat back on his head… at least it wasn't a bowler hat. Harry mentally shuddered hoping beyond hope that Fudge never owned one of the Hallows. Harry-Albus felt a sudden push of anxiety as if he knew that he would be late if he continued to dawdle and as Harry-Albus looked at the street he was on, he noticed the building and bit down a groan. He now knew why he had felt as if he'd been there before… because he had… but only in a memory.

The memory belonged to Albus Dumbledore and he visited it alongside the man. Now, Harry-Albus walked to the end of the road to look up at the dreary building. Wool's Orphanage was a sturdy building, squared in design surrounded by a high brick wall and closed by a tall iron gate with the name at the top. It was run-down looking, but then nearly everything in that part of town looked in disrepair. Taking a calming breath, Harry-Albus tightened his grip on the briefcase handle and pushed open the gate. Harry-Albus crossed the short courtyard, walked up the steps to the front door and used the knocker to announce his arrival.

It wasn't long before the door was answered by a tired looking man that peered at him suspiciously. The man didn't speak, didn't ask any questions so Harry took it upon himself to explain his reason for being there. Harry-Albus removed his hat in a polite gesture and spoke with a confidence he wasn't really feeling, "I've an appointment with the Matron."

The rather unpleasant man reminded Harry of Mr. Filch. He was an old disgruntled employee that slouched and shuffled and grunted with gestures for Harry to follow him… which he did, naturally. The man never introduced himself, nor did he deign to speak. They reached the offices of the administration department and the man pointed, grunted, then walked away.

Harry-Albus stared after him briefly and wondered if he was perhaps mute. Shaking it off, Harry-Albus opened the door and stepped inside where two women stood speaking, one was older and the other much younger. It wasn't that the older woman was old… she wasn't Albus' age, but the younger woman was closer to his/Harry's age… and rather fit. But he was currently in a very old man's body, so Harry-Albus did his best not to leer at her. He ignored what the two women were speaking about as he looked around a bit at his surroundings. Harry hadn't bothered to look too closely at their surroundings when he was in the memory, preferring to focus on what was happening and being said.

"Yes, Mrs. Cole." The younger woman said, and Harry-Albus turned his attention back to the women. The young lady was heading in his direction. Harry-Albus instantly smiled at her… and mentally kicked himself when she tried not to laugh at him. To save face, he opened the door to allow her to make her escape. She smiled sweetly, "Thank you."

He pressed his hat to his chest and gave an embarrassed grin with a nod, but quickly turned his attention to the matron. Mrs. Cole sniffed, "You'd be that professor."

"I am," Harry-Albus agreed as the door closed behind him and stepped closer. He gave her a polite bow of his head, "I've come to speak to you about Tom Riddle."

Mrs. Cole nodded and gestured to her guest chair. She walked behind the desk and took a seat, while Harry-Albus took a seat as directed. Harry couldn't remember what his initial reaction was to Mrs. Cole in the memory, but his opinion of her now was an overworked, but determined woman. Her clothing was clean, but conservative, her hair was pulled back into a bun, but nothing as severe as what Professor McGonagall had preferred. She eyed Harry-Albus with curiosity and asked, "What is it you want to know?"

Harry-Albus set his briefcase on his lap and laid the hat on top, "I was wondering whether you could tell me anything of the boy? If memory serves, he was born here at the orphanage?"

"That's right," Mrs. Cole nodded briefly then furrowed her eyebrows as her memory took her back eleven years ago, "I remember it clear as anything, because I'd just started here myself. New Year's Eve and bitter cold, snowing, you know. Nasty night. And this girl, not much older than I was myself at the time, came staggering up the front steps. Well, she wasn't the first. We took her in, and she had the baby within the hour. And she was dead in another hour.*"

She shuddered then as if breaking the memory and forcefully taking herself back to the present. Harry-Albus patiently waited, but when her next words came, it was his turn to frown. The woman continued speaking of Merope. Apparently the two had conversed for some time during those two hours that Mrs. Cole knew her. Suddenly the woman stopped speaking and bluntly said, "He scares the other children."

"He's a bully," Not that that news was in the least surprising to Harry and he said it as a statement, not a question because he did not doubt Mrs. Cole in the least.

But she apparently heard it as a question as she continued speaking, "I think he must be, but it's very hard to catch him at it. There have been incidents… nasty things…"

Harry-Albus nodded slowly. He remembered this conversation, not everything verbatim naturally, but what she said was familiar to him. The trouble was that Harry also remembered his conversation with Albus after having visited this very memory. Harry had asked his headmaster if he knew then that Tom Riddle was a possible future Dark Lord… and the man said no. Yet everything the woman continued on with - detailing past incidents with the other children… and a few select staff members - screamed warnings of a future dark wizard… perhaps not a Dark Lord, but any Muggle would have told you that Tom Riddle had the makings of a serial killer.

Unfortunately for Harry, while he was a visitor in another person's body, he was unable to act completely out of their character… meaning that Harry-Albus was not allowed to go into Tom's room right now and just kill him in order to save so many lives later. Such a shame. Really. Harry would have loved to save his parents and so many more.

"Are you certain?" Mrs. Cole asked once again, "It isn't that I don't appreciate the boy being taken away to a school for ten months out of the year, but…" Harry-Albus smiled at the woman and assured her that yes, he was certain and, apparently, he did a decent enough job convincing her because Mrs. Cole didn't argue or question him again. Damned Hallows. No, he wasn't certain. Harry was screaming in his own head, but there was nothing he could do to stop history from repeating itself. Mrs. Cole asked, "You wanted to speak with him?"

No. No, no, no, bloody hell no he did NOT want to speak with that devil spawn. But Harry-Albus nodded congenially and said, "If it wouldn't be too much of a bother…"

"He's in his room," Mrs. Cole said as she stood up. The woman kept shooting glances at Albus and began asking about the school. Harry-Albus answered vaguely each time and finally they were before one of the many open doors that looked exactly like the others. Only this one had a small name plate stating Tom Riddle and said boy sat inside staring at them. Mrs. Cole hesitated looking from the boy to the professor. Harry-Albus only had eyes for Tom. Finally, the woman stepped back, "I'll be in my office if you need me."

Harry-Albus nodded to the woman, "Thank you, Mrs. Cole." All the while he stared at Tom as the boy stared back. Considering he was in Albus' body, Harry tried to do a surface legilimens scan and nearly recoiled at the hostility and distrust being thrown in his direction. Harry decided not to try that again considering the instant headache he received for his efforts.

The room was small, just large enough for a bed, desk, chair and armoire. Tom was sitting on his bed silently watching Albus. Harry-Albus walked into the doorway and introduced himself, "Hello, Tom. I'm Professor Dumbledore. May I come in?"

"Are you here to punish me?"

"Punish you?" Harry-Albus asked, "Whatever for?"

Tom sat up, but didn't incriminate himself further, but instead shook his head as if to shake away the thoughts of punishment. The boy was dismissive when he said, "Come in if you'd like."

"Thank you," Harry-Albus said as he entered and stood by the only unoccupied chair. Tom didn't offer him a seat, so Harry-Albus flicked his wrist, threw a quick notice-me-not privacy ward at the door frame then promptly conjured a soft squishy purple armchair and took a seat.

He had the boy's attention now. Tom sat at the edge of his seat and admitted, "I knew I was special."

Harry wanted to scoff and rant about just how 'special' he truly was. He wanted to smite the boy down and put the fear of Albus in him. Harry wanted to tell the idiot child not to go dark, he wanted Albus to pay better attention to what was said and unsaid and LOOK at the obvious evidence set before him, but his body just gave the boy a small grin. Harry-Albus acquiesced with the boy's assessment and said, "Yes, Tom. You are indeed special. You're a wizard."

After that declaration, Harry took a backseat to what was going to happen next. and as much as he'd have liked to have stopped Albus from doing certain things, such as setting fire - illusionary or not - to the boy's belongings, there was nothing that he could do to stop him.

Harry was utterly astonished by Albus. The man was truly that clueless. While Harry thought for certain the things that Mrs. Cole said to Albus or even more so, the things Tom admitted to doing with magic, should have thrown red flags of concern raising alarms in his mind. Albus defeated Gellert Grindelwald, he knew a Dark Lord. KNEW him… Yet Albus was utterly convinced that this boy… Tom Riddle, the future Lord Voldemort… could be redeemed and taught to be good.

Then again… Albus was close friends with Grindelwald at one time. Was in love with Gellert at one time and still believed in the Greater Good even after defeating his friend. So, perhaps the man wasn't that good of a judge of character.

After all that was said and done… Albus Dumbledore was only human.

Started Day 23, Finished Day 25 - Prompt: Harry is deputy headmaster to Tom (Original: Harry is headmaster to a student like Tom)

Word Count: 16,964

* Dialogue taken from the Wiki page.

AN: Okay, I'm not overly thrilled with this one and sometimes I felt like the plot got so lost and then... it abruptly ended. Yeah... I know. So weird. Anyhow, I said I'd post my stories... I never said I had to like them!

AN2: I got reviews! Oh stars, that surprised me and I'm tickled beyond words. Anyhow, thanks stars-for-dreams and thanks to everyone else that has favorited and / or followed. I appreciate all y'all.