A/N: Hello, people! New fic.
I don't own Harry Potter.
I have no beta.
ENJOY!
CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.
Tom Marvolo Riddle had just recently graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and have managed to find himself a position in Great Britain's most well-known, dark artifacts shop. He worked as the front end boy in Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley. With this position, Tom was put into contact with a lot of pureblood aristocracy and was therefore able to charm them to his viewpoint.
Tom had already worked over the Malfoy's, as Abraxas was one of his Knights. This was followed by the Blacks, specifically Walburga, Lucretia, and Orion who were also a part of his practically worshipped the ground he stepped on, as they should.
While Tom did not like doing menial labor and conversing with the idiots who often came into the shop, he knew it was for his cause and that was all that was important. He could stomach the filthy rats that came in. He could handle the lustful gazes of certain customers.
Tom was flipping through the latest release of Witch Weekly, rolling his eyes at the various comments from household witches over certain political figures in the Ministry of Magic. Now, instead of talking about important things, it was basically a mass gossip column with women of varying opinions and ages talking about the men they found most attractive. Currently, the holder of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award - it was a fairly new award, having begun only three years prior - was none other than Abraxas Malfoy.
Tom sighed, wishing that he had something better to do.
The door to the shop opened banging against the bell hanging above it. Tom's wish had been answered. Tom glanced over, seeing a rather short figure entering the shop. From where he was leaning over the counter-top, he could not see much detail other than the fact that this person was male and had a very small head of wild, inky, black hair.
The person immediately made a beeline for the bookshelf, looking up with interest.
Tom placed the magazine under the counter and straightened his robes out in order to appear at his most charming. Slipping from behind the counter, he approached the young man on the other side of the shop.
"Excuse me, but I am certain that you are too young to be shopping here."
It was a boy. A boy with very shocking features. He was pale like Tom was, but was also very short. Not the size of a first year but definitely not well into his teen years. His hair was shoulder length and was brushed into a very familiar hairstyle. What shocked Tom the most about this boy, were his eyes. Tom had only ever seen a color like that on his... on Hadrian.
The boy, who looked so much like Tom's deceased childhood friend, smiled up at him. "There isn't an age limit you know. I can walk practically anywhere in Knockturn Alley so long as I don't draw too much attention to myself."
Tom cocked an eyebrow. this boy even spoke very much like Hadrian had.
"Oh really?" Tom asked in amusement.
The boy simply smiled and turned back to the bookshelf, pulling out a book on potions and holding it out to Tom. "I'll be taking that one please?"
While Tom was a bit reluctant to sell a book from Borgin and Burke's to a young boy who especially looked a lot like his old... Hadrian, Tom knew that Borgin would not be pleased if he allowed a sale to walk out of the shop. He took the book from the boy and went to the counter where he'd add it to the log of outgoing objects and remove it from the list of acquired objects.
"Are you a Ravenclaw?" asked Tom.
The boy laughed. Merlin, his laugh was even the same. Tom could feel his heart pounding and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.
"No. I'm a Hufflepuff."
Tom had always had amazing control over his emotions. Actually, his amazing control didn't really happen until after Hadrian... passed on. But that didn't matter because his control was amazing and it had been years since he allowed himself to gape at somebody. And yet here he was, in the middle of his job doing just that, to a Hufflepuff. The person who looked like his Hadrian so much was a bloody Hufflepuff.
The boy laughed, "I know that it's a shock. A lot of people underestimate us Hufflepuffs because of their misconceptions of what our House represents. I don't see how people can mistake it though. We work hard at everything we do, we are not scared to get her hands dirty in order to get something done, and once you have our loyalty you can never lose it. Quite frankly I think Hufflepuff is the best House of Hogwarts because we take anyone and aren't so rude as to only demand people of a certain blood status, intelligence level, or by how much courage they have."
Tom scoffed, "Slytherin is the best, sorry to break your heart."
The boy send him a pitying look. But why?
"You see, this is what makes it interesting. My Hogwarts House is Hufflepuff, and it was not the main house the Sorting Hat chose for me. I was supposed to be in Slytherin."
No. There was just no way. A Hufflepuff who was supposed to be in Slytherin? Really?
"And I know what you're thinking, how can this be possible? Well let me tell you something, It is possible to have the traits of more than one house. I affectionately call myself a Slytherpuff. If that's a bit too difficult for you to understand, think of it like this. Touch the people I care about and I will burn you to the ground. Or, offend or hurt my friends and you will die by poisoned biscuits. My personal favorite is, you can make me cry and cry and cry, and when I've cried enough tears I will drown you in them.
So you see, I'm an interesting mix. I am cunning and resourceful, I have ambition. I want to be well known. I have no qualms about working to get there. It's really simple if you think about it."
Tom's interest was captured. A Hadrian look-alike with Slytherin and Hufflepuff qualities. The very best of both. He'd be a good follower.
"I'm Tom Riddle," Tom said, holding out his hand.
The boy accepted the handshake. "I know. You were Head Boy and Prefect. I'm Haraldr James."
Tom's stomach dropped. So similar. Hadrian Jameson and Haraldr James.
"Pleasure," Tom smiled charmingly, wondering where this acquaintanceship would head.
A/N: First is done.
-Hadrian Jameson died when Tom was 5. A few moments later, Haraldr James was born.
-Hadrian performed a strong piece of magic through his blood, by vowing to always come back to Tom. Tom won't figure this out for a while.
-I am a Slytherpuff and I had to make one of my characters a Slytherpuff, sorry.
-As for Hufflepuff, I have to concede that Helga was the most welcoming as she said, 'I'll teach the lot and treat them just the same' and 'Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest and taught them all she knew'.
-His last example with the drowning in tears is from a post I made on Tumblr about being a Slytherpuff. I can use it in my fics.
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CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.