Here is the next chapter. Please read and review thanks, love Angel x
Things were getting tougher and tougher. He was being watched by various people. The idea was meant to be that he wouldn't notice but Mrs Figg was so obvious it was like wearing something neon yellow and assuming no one would ever look at you. She'd need to go and soon. As he was now sharing his body with the young boy in equal proportions he would be doing so using a spell which wasn't dark at all. He had it all planned. After many times scouring the old idiot's brain he could tell Albus had used a compulsion spell to make her tell him everything he ever did and more than that to insure he remained abused even if she'd need to be the one abusing him something Albus obviously thought was happening. It wasn't though.
She had invited him in for a cup of tea to talk with him and spy directly so she could get more information from him. Dumbledore had given her truth serum for just this occasion. If he refused to take it she was instructed to beat him into submission any way she could and force the truth from him that way. However as Mrs Figg was so daft she'd never realised that when truth serum was added into tea which had nothing else inside it, it tended to go purple in colour as his had! He asked her to get him something he knew was upstairs and placed a tripping jinx on the stairs. She emerged and started to come down tripping and falling down the stairs to her death. At least she had been very old and wouldn't be missed. He asked Lolly to place her body inside a crematorium and to make the workers there cremate her without remembering it. She complied putting the late Mrs Figg into the crematorium while the now compulsed workers cremated her and spread her ashes outside where they'd blow away as the day went on.
He often shared the thoughts of the young boy he inhabited and said boy was actually happy with what had happened to Arabella who had tried several times before today to hurt him however each time he'd been called away by someone so she couldn't. She was getting more angry and desperate and today that showed more than ever when she'd practically nabbed him before he could say anything against going with her as he usually did. She was a bad lady and deserved to die! For fun Tom placed the dark mark over her house and went home as though nothing had happened. No one had seen him there anyway so he was fine. A while later the aurors arrived and then Albus Dumbledore came to the street. He was horrified that not only was Arabella not there but the aurors had discovered many magical artefacts he'd given her to abuse Tom with if he refused to give her the truth. He had been stunned to read the wills of the Potters and to learn that Lily's favourite uncle had been called Thomas and so named Tom after him. Sometimes that girl was such a fool. Didn't she realise Voldemort had been a Tom too? What an idiot! Well at least this Tom was still innocent and malleable at five years old. He approached the Dursley household while wearing a muggle police uniform and knocked.
"Hello ma'am there has been an accident at fifty four Wisteria Lane and a Mrs Arabella Figg has gone missing. I was wondering are all of your children are inside the house and safe as it wouldn't be safe for them to be outside today!" he asked nicely as Petunia frowned.
"That woman was very creepy and is no loss to me or anyone else living here. She loved nothing except her cats and following me around. I was going to report her to the police myself if she didn't stop. Yes my children are in here today and have been all day. Dudley has the flu so he can't go out and Tom has been colouring in his room!" she said as he looked very torn indeed on what he should do next. He was disgusted when he learned that many residents of Wisteria Lane and Privet Drive had called the police on her for being creepy and stalking them. He had asked her only to be like this with Tom not anyone else. Albus still believed her loss or the loss of anyone who wasn't Voldemort to be unnecessary. Everyone had the chance to be redeemed. He just wished everyone thought the same way he did.
It wasn't fair. He'd been officially locked out of Tom Potter's accounts and the Weasley family had asked where their monthly payments were. He had however stolen from many other families so would pay them with that money instead. So long as it wasn't his own money doing the paying he'd be fine. Ronald was to be Tom's best friend and influence him towards the light and taking subjects only Albus agreed were necessary. Tom would have no choices but Ronald would make it look like he really did. He would suggest only the courses Albus had pre-approved and then Tom would be doing what Albus wanted him to do. He'd be in Gryffindor like a good boy as mummy and daddy would no doubt have wanted. When he had looked at Tom's birth cert a year back it had said he was his own magical guardian something no doubt James the idiot found funny. This was no laughing matter but no matter what he did he couldn't change it. Well Tom didn't know this and what Tom didn't know couldn't hurt the plans of Albus. He'd also been on the lookout for another friend for Tom when he'd found Hermione Granger a muggleborn who incredibly knew about magic, knew she had it and could already control it wandlessly. She was bursting at the seams with questions and ideas for studying. She would be the perfect rule abiding, study hungry student which would drive Tom mad with her extreme overbearing ways but he would learn to be her best friend. She would ultimately wear him down.
He couldn't have been more wrong though. Tom was headed to Slytherin and his best friends would not be what Albus wanted either. He wouldn't be friends with Draco Malfoy as he was so pompous he'd only want to curse him constantly so that was definitely out. Knowing Lucius he'd probably raised him to be some stupid pampered prince. Well he'd get a shock when he came to school that's for sure and Tom would make sure he did. Also he'd learned how to make his eyes go red for a couple of seconds and would do so the second he had the sole attention of Severus Snape. Severus had been a good servant and would be so again. Besides which the tasks he had for him wouldn't be all that difficult to complete. However he'd make friends with Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott and anyone else who actually showed promise. If Draco Malfoy could prove himself actually useful then he would be a good friend too. In fact maybe he could manipulate the stupid little boy into being his servant early. He did intend to abuse the boy so better earlier than later.
Dumbledore could tell Petunia was telling the truth and left after reading her mind briefly. At least Tom hadn't been attacked by the death eaters. The only good thing about the dark mark was that it couldn't be seen by muggles thank goodness. He returned home to his office unaware that the aurors were currently going through her items and co-ordinating with the local police who told them about her spying and stalking nature. After that she was considered to be useless and they stopped investigating her disappearance. Clearly if she'd caused that much trouble for everyone and had devices of magical torture in her home she wasn't worth finding. If Albus had known they were going to do that he would have likely compelled them to find her. Oh well what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him either. He'd ask about it later but they'd just tell him they'd had no luck in finding her and leave it at that. He still had order members he would be using to watch over Tom's every move. That boy would never be free of surveillance as long as he could say something about it. This in fact suited Tom. He would allow those people to follow him everywhere he went once outside the home and that would look incredibly boring but in reality Lolly would be taking him to those places which mattered most. Oh yes they'd find him so boring and would probably tell Dumbledore something like that as well.
So far he was liking school. It was much better than it had been in his day considering he could actually afford brand new supplies instead of having to use hand me down or often broken things like he'd had to use before. Also it was getting easier and easier to use a quill. Because he'd had no time to practice or adjust the last time his writing had been awful. This time he could write perfectly whether it was joined writing or not. For now he was not joining up his letters to fit in but would be doing so before he went to Hogwarts. He would be arranging for a donation of new brooms to the school before he ever went to school to insure his safety. They would arrive with compulsions on them to make Madam Hooch destroy the old ones. If he was lucky no one would notice they were new brooms as he'd be buying one which although new was not top of the range. They would be perfectly plain new training brooms.
The Dursleys were a work in progress. After he'd broken a chair once Vernon had sat in it one day many months ago Vernon had agreed to go on a diet. He had repaired the chair whilst saying no something Petunia was secretly relieved she'd not needed to replace. Vernon had so far in the ten months since lost two stone and was starting to look better than ever. When the doctor had informed them that Dudley was getting overweight he had thrown the fit to end all fits and ended up with a broken arm as a result which they had told him was his own fault. He wasn't receiving any sympathy but at least this way Tom was insuring they'd all be much healthier as a whole. He himself had joined a dance studio he was attending a couple of days of a week directly after school. It was close to his home so he was ok to walk home in the evenings. As a pureblood you're expected to know so many different types of dance and he never fit in as Tom Riddle for this reason as he didn't know these things early on.
He also had started running regularly to make sure he was indeed very healthy. Dudley hated his new diet and he'd been on it for months but even he couldn't deny the amount of energy he now had. In the year since Arabella Figg had died her house had been cleaned up thoroughly by the counsel and given to a new family to live in. The Green family were lovely and instantly got on well with everyone. Mrs Green soon became a good friend of Petunia's as they bonded over gardening with which Petunia was obsessed. Tom had made sure he always got straight grades and had all the toys he ever wanted although admittedly most of money went on books both magical and muggle alike. He'd read the lord of the rings with enthusiasm. Petunia and Vernon saw nothing wrong with telling him he was wizard like his parents as the magic he used around them was only done for good such as to repair broken things for free something which Vernon often needed to take advantage.
At the age of eight Tom had checked out the wards and found the mail repelling ward as well as tracking wards. He altered the mail repelling ward to repel all mail which was evil or contained anything which would physically harm him in any way. Had Dumbledore checked it he would think it was still there which it was but in a way which most benefitted Tom. The Tracking charm had been obliterated totally in such a way that it could not be re-applied. He'd found a charm in one of his magical books that he would need to cast over all of his clothing and possessions so no tracking charms could ever be placed on his person. If he cast it first before anyone else could all tracking charm attempts would be useless not that the person casting it would know that of course. Elphias Doge was a right pain in the arse. He followed his every move and it was getting old quickly. He did so only because Albus had informed that him Tom was in real extreme danger. He wandlessly cast a charm at the man which he'd found in a healing book to give him a mild fever. He'd be gone for a while now and finally Tom could breath. Since he'd melded in with the boy his appearance had changed. As he'd not needed glasses and had no scar he was not obviously like Tom Potter or Tom Potter as others assumed he should look. Also his hair was actually manageable. Other than that though he really did look like a combination of James and Lily. People would naturally assume he got his nice hair from Lily.
Albus was terrified someone was seriously considering offing Tom now. I mean Doge had caught an extreme fever while constantly tailing him and although highly likely he'd not die from it; it was still terrifying. He'd need to think very carefully about everything. He checked and saw the mail repelling ward was still there and smiled. At least no one could contact him now and he'd still know nothing about their world when he arrived in it. All was going to plan. Little did Albus know that Lolly brought Tom a paper each day which he read with enthusiasm. He knew everything about their world and even researched their current minister for magic Cornelius Fudge who had been voted in last year. When he learned that Lucius Malfoy often bribed this man to pass laws he particularly favoured he was furious. Some punishment was in order for sure. He decided to free Sirius Black from Jail and punish Lucius that way. Oh he'd have the last laugh. Accio Wormtail! He wandlessly called out summoning Scabbers to him whom he forced back into his human form.
"Wormtail it is I!" he said flashing his red eyes for a second as the rat trembled and fell to the floor.
"Oh good master you're not dead. What do you need master? I'll do anything to serve!" he snivelled at his feet.
Confundus impetu. Wormtail you will go now to the Ministry and confess to all what you did. You will tell everyone you framed Sirius Black and can't take the guilt of your actions anymore. Now go! He ordered as Peter left still dazed to do his bidding. This would be good.
AN: Confundus impetu = I command you to do