Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Tom returned to Hogwarts for his fourth year of magical education looking more like a man and less like a young boy.
His smooth voice had deepened over the summer, his shoulders had broadened, and he had grown taller, although he had never been considered short for his age.
His dark eyes held a new, intriguing depth, complimented by the silky curls that fell attractively around his temples to frame his handsome face.
Harriet had experienced some changes as well.
As they sat together during the free period of their first day back at the castle, she blushed slightly when she caught Tom's gaze flickering over the outline of the new curves he could see through her uniform.
"It's impolite to stare, you know." Harriet chided as his eyes focused on the beguiling silhouette of her hips as she sat with her legs folded.
"Forgive me, sweetling." Tom replied with a charming smile as he raised his eyes to meet Harriet's, "I doubt that I can stop myself from admiring you……If you could be less beautiful, then perhaps I would be less tempted?"
Harriet laughed at her lover's sly ability to turn his misbehavior into a compliment.
Although they were surrounded by their peers who went about their own business, chatting and catching up, Tom leaned in and stole a quick kiss from Harriet's lips.
Many of the other students clearly saw Tom and Harriet's display of affection, but no eyebrows raised in response.
By then, all of Hogwarts had become well aware that Tom Riddle and Harriet Potter loved each other.
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Tom threw himself into his pursuits as he began a desperate race against time.
He had presented as an alpha.
Harriet would surely find out her own identity soon.
Regardless, he knew he only had a meager three years before he would graduate and begin his adult life.
Tom had grand dreams of who and what he wanted to be.
His job at the apothecary helped his mother with expenses and allowed him to host Harriet at their flat during holidays, but Tom Riddle's ambitions went far beyond living the rest of his life as a humble store clerk.
He focused large amounts of his energy on charming his fellow students to cultivate friendships with the children whose parents were high-ranking witches and wizards in magical society.
Tom wisely decided that the more connections he made, the easier his rise to power would become.
He studied extensively and remained at the very top of his class in academic achievements.
Privately, Tom continued to learn about the forbidden subject of the Dark Arts.
It became important to him that people viewed him as a capable wizard, not a villain. He had come to realize that villians were often slow to achieve and sustain mass popularity.
One afternoon, Tom and Harriet enjoyed one of their many dates in The Three Broomsticks as they chatted over Butterbeers.
"Draco mentioned that Lucius Malfoy may be able to secure an internship for me at the Ministry this summer." Tom bragged to Harriet with an arrogant grin.
"Oh, that'd be brilliant!" Harriet exclaimed as she took another sip of her drink.
"If I could just have someone see me there…get to know me…..then I could truly start on my path then." Tom nodded.
Harriet blinked at him as he reached across the table, took her hand, and whispered, "I could make a good life for us."
Harriet chuckled as her fingers intertwined with Tom's while she took another drink and replied, "You don't have to act like you're going at it alone. I'll work too, you know."
Tom let go of her hand as an irritated scowl marred his handsome face.
"...What's the matter?" Harriet blinked.
"You won't work." Tom snapped.
"I……beg your pardon?" Harriet asked as her eyes narrowed behind her glasses.
"You won't work, because you'll be too busy with our children, sweetling." Tom said with a smile that seemed a little too kind.
"...Children?" Harriet asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Who do you think will care for them if their mother is gone all day every day?" Tom frowned.
"Your own mother seems capable enough." Harriet shrugged, "You always talk about how she can retire once you've established yourself."
"What do you want to do, anyway?" Tom asked in a huff, "Why do you want to work? Will loving me not be enough to keep you happy?"
"I didn't say that!" Harriet cried, "I…..I don't honestly know what I'll do for a job. Maybe I'll play on a professional Quidditch team, maybe I'll be an auror….Really, I haven't given it that much thought, Tom. We have three more years! I don't brood about all of this rubbish constantly."
"Rubbish?" Tom scoffed as he narrowed his dark eyes at Harriet, "My career and our life together…..that's rubbish, then?"
"No, that's not what I meant!" Harriet laughed.
She reached out and grabbed his hand again.
Tom scowled but he intertwined his fingers with hers once more in a silent gesture of tender affection.
Harriet took a deep breath before she found the right words to explain, "What I meant to say was…….We're still very young. I don't….I don't understand why we have to worry about who's going to watch children that don't yet exist and who's going to work what job when. Let's try to enjoy our time at Hogwarts and have fun, shall we?"
A pleasant smile danced across Tom's lips as he nodded at Harriet, dropped their argument, and replied, "Of course, sweetling…….Let's have fun."
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Tom Riddle had no interest in having fun.
Tom Riddle's interest remained in obtaining what he wanted…….power, notoriety, and above all else, Harriet Potter.
He had agreed with his darling only to appease her.
As the school year continued, their conversations were much more light-hearted as they enjoyed the carefree joys of youth.
Despite that, Tom continued to pour his efforts into achieving his goals.
One Saturday morning, while he tended the counter at the apothecary, a couple entered the shop.
Tom could sense immediately that the wizard was an alpha and the witch was an omega.
As he watched the man protectively hold the woman close to him, Tom assumed her to be the man's mate.
He quickly saw that she was heavily pregnant.
The wizard smiled as he whispered to the witch while they approached the counter.
Tom watched as the man kissed her lips and slipped one of his hands onto her rounded belly.
The softness in the woman's eyes fascinated Tom as she stared up at the man.
He wanted Harriet to look at him that way, to depend on him, to rely on him to keep her safe and-
"Afternoon, my boy!" The man greeted Tom as he and his mate stood in front of the counter, "I'd like to purchase a handful of ginger and five stems of razenweed, please."
"Of course, sir." Tom replied with a polite smile, "Anything else for you today?"
"No!" The man exclaimed with a cheerful laugh, "Just be quick about it, eh? My wife wanted to come to the village one last time before the little one arrives and we have several other stops to make."
"Absolutely, I understand." Tom nodded as he turned around and quickly filled the man's order.
As he worked with his back towards the couple, he heard the man purr low whispers of sweet sentiment to the woman.
Tom quickly collected the man's order and handed him the bag with a nod.
As the man paid for his items, Tom kept stealing secret glances at the pregnant witch.
Perhaps it had something to do with his admiration of his own mother, but he noticed a kind of sublime perfection in the expectant woman.
Lovely, vulnerable, seemingly kind……
Tom smirked as an idea bloomed in his mind while he watched the couple leave the apothecary, trapped in their own world of blissful anticipation.
He silently surmised that perhaps that was what he should do if Harriet chose to defy him…..
When they were older, after they had mated and married, if she disobeyed him like the naughty omega he assumed she would grow to be, then he could correct her behavior well enough.
Tom would fill Harriet so full of love and orgasms that he would keep her in her nest, round with his children.
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The prospect of mating weighed on Tom Riddle's mind.
Another summer of songs, secret ruts, and visits passed by.
He spent those sweltering weeks with Merope and Asherah, although the time became pleasantly sweetened by occasional visits from Harriet.
By the beginning of his fifth year at Hogwarts, Tom had started to search for a suitable place that he and Harriet could use as a retreat when the time came.
Several girls in their class had already discovered they were omegas and had even experienced their first heat.
Others, including Harriet, had not.
It became Tom's hobby to slip out of bed undetected and wander around the castle without the irritation of people in his way.
As night after night of fruitless searching passed, he held onto the hope that if his efforts to find a suitable nesting place for Harriet remained unsuccessful, then perhaps the castle would at least allow him to bring his darling to the Room of Requirement when her first cycle began?
While Harriet slept in her bed one evening, Tom stumbled upon a massive, elegant mirror tucked away in a lonely, forgotten corner of an empty room in Hogwarts' upper level.
He lit the tip of his wand with a silent spell as he stepped towards the mirror and peered into the glass.
His reflection showed him much older, in dignified robes, with Harriet at his right side and Merope at his left.
Each of them wore a smile and held a baby in their arms as happy, dark-haired, green-eyed children played at their feet.
Tom smirked to himself as he gazed back at what he wanted most in the world.
The comforting haze of his reverent daydream caused him to start when an unexpected voice hissed out from behind the stone walls, "The Mirror of Erised shows only what is wanted, not what will be…..Waste little time in front of it, heir of Salazar Slytherin."
Tom looked around with his dark eyes narrowed as he heard a massive sliding sound all around him from behind the stone walls.
He responded to his unseen, Parselmouthed visitor in a hasty snarl, "...Who are you?!"
"It has taken some time, but I have finally found you, alone, where you and I may speak freely. Do you not seek a respite for yourself, heir of Slytherin?" The voice hissed again as the grating sound continued.
The loudness of the noise worried Tom that whatever or whoever he spoke to would break down the walls.
"I do…..yes. Answer my question! Who are you?! How do you know the language of serpents?" He demanded.
"I know the language of serpents……because I am the mightiest one." The eerie voice replied, "Open the Chamber of Secrets, heir of Slytherin……..and you will find what you seek."
"What do you mean?!" Tom shouted in Parseltongue, "Chamber of Secrets?! What is that?!...Where is that?!...What are you talking about?"
"Follow me…….and I will take you there, son of Salazar Slytherin." The voice whispered in a confident hiss.
Tom's curiosity had been piqued.
For the second time, he had been addressed as the heir of Slytherin.
The desire to know why burned in his heart.
As the massive sliding sound continued, Tom followed the noise through the castle and into the girls' lavatory on the second floor.
"A hand on the seal of Slytherin, that will do, then travel down the passage….." The voice instructed.
Tom looked around the lavatory until he found a faucet that had been engraved with the image of a snake.
He placed a hand over the serpentine engraving and watched as an opening appeared before him.
Tom bravely climbed inside and slipped down the secret passage.
At the end of his brief journey, he came to a round door covered by seven metal snakes and sealed with an enchanted lock.
"Command what you wish to do….and it will be done!" The voice whispered.
Tom stood in front of the round door as he listened to the massive sliding sound move past him behind the stone walls.
He took a breath as he prepared to unknowingly change his life forever.
Tom Riddle spoke with his dark eyes glinting as he ordered the metallic, enchanted snakes on the door's lock in Parseltongue, "Open."
Immediately after the heir of Slytherin gave his command, an eighth metallic snake crept out from the side of the rounded door and slithered across its outer edge.
As the snake passed each of its fellow serpents, it released them from their guarding positions one by one.
Tom's pulse pounded as he watched the round door slowly swing open.
A bright grin of eager anticipation crossed his handsome face as he stepped forward.
The Chamber of Secrets had been opened.