Summary: If you were the most feared wizard in the world, and one day you found out that you'd been turned into a child again, what would you do?
And if you were looked after by a mudblood at Hogwarts…
Chapter two: Look at me! I'm also a student
An unexpected noise broke the silence of the night. All of Diagon Alley was deserted and the wind blew away the dry leaves. Autumn had arrived in the magical word
-What…? Where am I? - A child's voice asked. All he remembered was being at Riddle's mansion with his Death Eaters and now he was there at Hogsmeade… His thoughts were interrupted by the swear-words of a young witch.
- Bloody weather! Bloody rain! What on earth was I thinking when I left my damned wand at Hogwarts?
She seemed angry and tired. Her brown hair was falling in front of her eyes. It was curly. She was carrying a big pile of books.
He, as the Dark Lord, could easily see at a glance that some of them were forbidden. Quite interesting.
He put up his head, challenging the girl. In spite of his obvious disadvantage, he still had pride.
-Who are you? - She asked harshly. He couldn't guess if her reaction was his fault or the rain's. He bit his tongue before asking.
Analysing his situation he decided to give the girl a try. As a matter of fact, he had no chance, he thought sarcastically.
-I don't know, I'm lost- He said putting on an angelical smile.
- Do you remember your name? - She asked again, this time her glance and voice were sweeter.
-Tom, Tom Redly.
She knelt down, smiling, and before he could react she had wrapped him with her cloak- don't worry, you're safe now- she answered.
-Do you remember how old you are?
-Five- He said after thinking about it for a few seconds. Both were wet. She took her time looking at him, before whispering something and hugging him. Her body was tiny and her skin smooth. He could smell her, a combination of flowers and plants.
He rested his head on her shoulder and breathed noisily. She smiled at him and started walking toward the castle. His eyes were feeling heavy, when she spoke again, whipping him out of his almost dream.
-By the way -She started- let me introduce myself I'm Hermione Granger.
Bloody luck, he had been betrayed by his Death Eaters, he had been turned into a child…would he have also lost his power? That was something that he had to find out as soon as he could.
But the most important thing was… Why the hell was he so comfortable in her arms?
And with this idea running circles in his head he fell asleep.
A metallic sound woke him up. He was lying down in an individual bed. He blinked twice before pulling a face. Quite interesting, the room wasn't so Gryffindor as he thought.
The walls were white with wide blue lines going across them vertically.
In front of where he was, there was a big, black shelf full of books, on his left, on the small night table, some pieces of clothes were perfectly folded.
And, apart from the closet, in the corner, made of some wood that he couldn't identify, there was nothing else.
- How do you feel? – The girl asked him. She was also lying down on the same bed.
- Better. Where are we? – He wanted to know in spite of knowing very well where they were.
- At Hogwarts, have no fear. We're safe here- She calmed him down.
Poor girl, what she didn't know was that the only place where they weren't safe, was at Hogwarts.
After hesitating a long time, she suddenly asked him if he had been attacked by Death Eaters. Her little mouth pronounced the words with calmness, trying to avoid scaring him.
He didn't know why, but he enjoyed it. To have someone focused on him, not on Voldemort, not on his power, just on Tom.
He looked at her. She was quite pretty; her untidy long hair gave her a sweet touch, like an angel.
As fast as he thought that, he realised what he was thinking. An angel? For Merlin's sake, he was the Dark Lord, he was not supposed to have "these" thoughts, but she was so pretty…
When he finished his self-conclusion, he saw her sleeping by his side. Her arms were wrapped around him as if trying to protect them from whatever thing tried to hurt them.
Maybe being like this wouldn't be as bad as he first thought.
(Tom's point of view)
The heart-shaped clock rang at half past six. The whole room was dark, even the sun was sleeping, but a peculiar witch was already awake and ready to solve all this mess.
Tom, Tom…- she called me softly.
After a few tries, she decided to wake me up with water. Pretty funny it should have been my face, because when I opened my eyes shocked I saw her doubling up with laughter.
Sorry, dear, but we have to solve our problems – she explained to me shortly.
Problems? – I replied. I am used to being the cleverest wizard but I have to acknowledge that I'm not very witty in the morning. Nobody is perfect.
She winked at me before smiling. Somehow I realised that she was going to do something that I wouldn't like.
Tom, you have to go to my classes with me, you have to wear a uniform and we have to quickly take a shower. So, come on! We are running out of time!
Maybe I was really thick that morning, but I could have sworn that she said that we had to take a shower. Together? Wear a uniform? Classes? I was five years old. It's obvious that the crackpot Hogwarts' students were not as sly as they should be, but somebody would notice that he wasn't the right age.
Oh, don't pull a face darling. I have thought about everything – She answered me, as if reading my mind- Firstly, you can't stay here alone, and I can't be here with you, so you will have to come with me. Secondly, although nobody is going to see you, because I'll put an invisibility spell on you, wearing the uniform is compulsory for all the teenagers who are at Hogwarts. I read it in Hogwarts: a history. And thirdly, but no less important, you're not old enough to take a shower by yourself, so we'll share it- she explained to me.
I had no time to reply when she took my clothes off. I didn't know why, but I blushed. My body was as ordinary as any five-year-old body. She stared at my body more carefully as she stared at my tattoo.
- How…? – She tried to ask me while her fingers caressed the gorgeous snake that adorned my back, from shoulder to hip. I couldn't avoid smiling. Only a few people knew its existence.
- I like snakes – I simply answered. I had been told that I get very moody answering personal questions, so I congratulated myself for being such a good actor.
- It's appealing.
I just turned when she also took her clothes off, I was not naïve, but the point was that the girl had almost saved my life. Although I did not need it, since when she was sleeping, I was able to check that I was as powerful as before.
I came back to reality when she splashed me with water. We were both in the bath. She was behind me.
- Do you like it? – She wanted to know. At first I didn't know what she was talking about, but when I understood, I could only laugh. Near me, there were some plastic "pieces" floating. What a beautiful surprise! There was also a brown lion. Silly girl! Always showing her Gryffindor side.
I rested up on her chest while I played with the small lion, drowning it. It was quite funny. She was washing me while I was playing. I didn't used to have this type of attention when I was in the orphanage.
Twenty minutes later, I was clean and dry, waiting for her. She had just gone somewhere saying who knows what.
When she came back, I almost died.
- Oh, come on! They are not so ugly, and I can do some changes- She said nervously.
The clothes itself were a red pair of jeans and a golden t-shirt. I didn't know why, I always thought that I was easy to please. And this girl was driving me mad.
I'm Lord Voldemort, I'm the most powerful wizard on Earth, I don't play with plastic toys, I don't wear colourful clothes, I don't share my showers, I… What was she doing? Oh no! I was not going to be brushed by a…
Shit! What didn't she understand? I had a reputation to uphold!
It was going to be a long day…
After going to the kitchen to have breakfast, we went to class together. Our first class was Defence against the Dark Arts, my favourite subject.
Ok, Tom, you have to be a very good boy; you'll have to sit down on my lap. You can't speak or make a mess. Only be quiet and… I'll manage to get some candy for you.
Wait a minute, I could understand the first things, but was she trying to bribe me, the Lord Dark, with candy? I believed that Dumbledore was useless, but I didn't know how much he was. Hogwarts should have offered " blackmail classes"
I never had patience, but sitting down for forty-five minutes was very boring.
But, taking into account that nobody would ever know that… Maybe I could reconsider my options. I smirked dangerously. I was going to turn this boring class into a very interesting one and a little bit of candy wasn't going to avoid it.
I could be delightfully bad, even being a child, and by the way, a very pretty child.
