Harry didn't sleep well that night, and the next morning when he stepped into the Great Hall, everyone in Gryffindor was mumbling around in gossip. He sat down slowly, in between Ron and Ginny, and started to serve himself with some light foods as he wasn't very hungry either. He knew he was being so dumb and it was stupid to get so down over something he had no right over, so he really hoped his exhaustion wasn't too noticeable... but it didn't work, of course. The girls threw him glances, not saying anything, but of course they could see it.
"Did I miss something?"
Ginny snorted, and Hermione looked at him with something like pity, hesitant to tell him, but Ron ran his mouth before anyone could stop him.
"Aside from the fact everyone this morning saw Prince making out with somebody— don't ask me who because I have no idea, but it was literally at the doors where everyone could see"
Oh. Now Hermione's expression made sense. Harry cleared his throat and tried to act normal.
"Well that's… new"
"That's one way to put it" Ginny agreed, looking at him from the corner of her eye.
Normally, nobody had the actual balls to start making out in public anywhere in the castle, and much less with Umbridge strict and nonsensical rules about propriety and the many scandalised drama she would pull if she ran across two students that were as much as walking too close to each other. But then again, Prince didn't seem to give a fuck about her. He tried to look at the Slytherin table, but neither Prince nor his boyfriend were in sight.
It wasn't until the first class of the morning that he appeared, side by side with the blond.
Now that it wasn't so dark, he could see he was terribly handsome, though still seemingly shining with a weird charm. He looked somewhat far away related to Malfoy if he was not mistaken, and he carried himself with the same confidence and elegance of any other pure blood. He was dressed in Slytherin's robes, ones that were definitely tailored and not standard, as the fabric didn't even seem to be the same as everyone else's.
Umbridge waited until everyone was seated to greet them as usual, and everyone answered in chorus.
"Oh, who might you be?" she asked to the mysterious blond "I don't believe I have seen you before"
"I have just been transferred, ma'am" he answered politely, voice smooth and charming as every other part of himself "I was meant to start in September but there was a temporary setback and I just arrived last night. My name is Hyperion Lestrange"
She welcomed him sweetly, and promptly directed them to their daily readings, to which the class silently started to go through their books. Once the class was over, thankfully without any detention for Harry this time, the entirety of the Slytherin class reunited around the blond, asking questions. The Gryffindors stayed behind purposefully to listen in, curious about this unusual situation.
"Are you really a Lestrange? I thought neither of the heirs had any children" Pansy Parkinson inquired.
"I am only part of a minor branch of the family" he answered calmly "I was partially raised in France, and then we moved to America"
"You and Draco do look alike" Daphne Greengrass commented, looking in between the two.
"I believe one of my ancestors either married a Malfoy or was from their family at some point, I would need to ask my parents"
The questions continued on, but Harry stopped listening. He was certain the story was a lie, because Thomas obviously knew him. And if he himself had appeared out of nowhere, practically flaunting the fact he was not what he seemed to be, then this new student was definitely another mystery to be solved...
The Chamber of Secrets was currently divided as the original members of the Defence Club were standing in one side looking weary towards the group of fifth year Slytherins standing at the other side. Nobody was moving or talking, just glaring at each other.
"Well" Hermione cleared her throat "We should start today's class. We don't have much time before we need to scatter"
Slowly, everyone moved to watch Harry, who sighed and instructed them to practice their patronus spells, as many still couldn't do it. A little awkwardly, he explained the basis to the Slytherins and started to try and helped them with the spell. It was... awkward to say the least; the Slytherins were all very prideful and they all hated Harry for no reason, who in turn also wasn't very fond of them and it was hard to keep an impartial stance.
It was then when Prince dignified himself to appear, followed by Lestrange.
"Sorry for being late" he said cheerily "we had to take a detour as to not run into a professor"
Hermione looked relieved to see him.
"No worries, we're practising patronus spells"
In a few minutes, most of the chamber was full of silvery mist and ghostly forms running around. Surprisingly, the Slytherins caught onto it fast, and they managed at least to form semi-physical patronuses at the start, eventually being more and more solid as they practised. Harry shamefully had to admit to himself that he hadn't expected them to be successful at all- of all of them, Malfoy was the one who had an almost fully formed patronus, in the vague small shape of a mammal. Lestrange didn't even try to do it.
Everything went very well, despite what they expected at the beginning, all things considered. No fights, no cutting words. Maybe a side eye or two, but that was a huge win regardless.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked quietly to Harry, taking the chance now that everyone was distracted.
He nodded, even though there was still a slight disappointment in his face.
"Yeah, don't worry"
She gave him a knowing glance still, and he pretended he didn't see it.
"Tom, I swear, if you as much as try to push me into the water I will gut you"
The loud voice called their attention and they turned to see the couple close to the dark ponds. Prince was smiling maliciously, and Lestrange was glaring at him. The rest had slowly started to pay attention to them as well, amused.
"Come on, there's nothing to be scared about, it's just a little water, Brax"
"Need I remind you I'm much better than you in spells?"
Prince gave a step forwards.
"You wouldn't curse me"
"Try me"
Prince jumped forwards and Lestrange screamed as they both fell into the water, to which nobody could help but laugh at. When he emerged, soaking wet, he pulled out his wand and sent a curse flying Prince's way.
By some miracle he managed to duck out of the way and soon everyone was looking awestruck at the duel that developed in front of their eyes. Lestrange was much quicker than Prince in throwing spells at him, but Prince sent what seemed to be stronger spells, judging by the intensity of the light coming from his wand. Eventually, Lestrange sent him flying backwards into the pile of pillows next to the giant statue and triumphantly he stepped out of the pond and dried himself with a spell.
Impressed, the rest of the class clapped their hands, mesmerised after what they'd watched. Sure, they had practised against each other before, but not to the same extent, never in a real duel.
"Ow… did it have to be one of your nasty curses?" Prince groaned, sitting up and rubbing his temple "My head hurts"
Lestrange rolled his eyes and stepped forwards to pull him up.
"Stop being a baby and be grateful I didn't use an unforgivable on you"
Prince scrunched up his nose and stopped protesting. For some reason, Harry had the feeling he was not joking about using an unforgivable curse.
Harry stayed to the side as everyone started to excitedly ask questions about the duel, and he distracted himself by walking through the tunnels around the chamber, wanting to be alone for a moment. He knew he was acting a bit ridiculous, mainly because he'd known from the start that Prince was not available, but he couldn't help but be a little jealous. Lestrange was… seemingly perfect. He'd only demonstrated that even further by his incredible duelling skills. Harry himself had learnt in order to survive the many horrible incidents he'd gone through, and he still had much to learn, but it seemed that those two had a natural ability when it came to it. It just served as a reminder that he was not enough.
"Harry?"
He jumped, startled, and turned around to find himself face to face with Cho Chang. Even though his crush on her had dimmed somewhat lately, he still blushed like an idiot in her presence. She looked so pretty...
"Err… hi"
"Sorry to surprise you, it's just— you looked really lonely"
"It's ok, I'm- I'm fine"
They looked at each other for a second before they both looked away, in a tense silence.
"I wanted to thank you, for everything you've done so far" she eventually said softly "for helping all of us… after Cedric I… I was really scared" Tears spilled down her cheeks and she tried to wipe them away. "But you have given us hope again. Thank you for that"
Harry thought she was giving him far more credit than he deserved, but before he could even say that, she stepped forwards and kissed him. He froze, not knowing what to do, and eventually clumsily kissed her back. It was his first kiss, and he was sure it was probably atrocious, but she didn't pull back as he first assumed she would. Her lips were soft and she tasted like salty tears, and Harry wished he could say he was thinking of her as their lips were pressed together.
Harry's dreams were very strange lately. Mostly, they were nasty memories of him growing up with the Dursley's. Him locked up in the cupboard, his days of hunger when they forgot about him, and the punishments he got when his chores weren't done to their standards. Memories of Dudley's horrible games of chasing him with his friends and pining all his wrongdoings on him. He hadn't suffered this many bad dreams since he was younger, and he found himself resting less and less, being more and more tired. But this time, when he finished watching as Vernon beat him with his belt, everything vanished and he found himself in a new place, pulled away from the pain and fear. There was a warm fireplace, and comfortable couches around it. He couldn't see much else since the room was in the dark.
Harry was sprawled on one of the couches, wrapped in blankets, and it took him a second to notice he was leaning against someone's chest. He tried to look up to see who it was, but he was very tired even in his dream, and his eyes started to close on their own, feeling safe. A hand brushed his hair hesitantly, as if they didn't know how to comfort him, and he drifted off to deeper sleep, without dreams.
The Death Eaters all looked at Tom and Abraxas weirdly as they made their way through Malfoy manor like they belonged there. It truly was a weird sight, to have two teenagers in between them, who on top of that just showed no sign of being even remotely intimidated by their Lord and his followers.
With a smile on his face, Tom opened the door to Lucius Malfoy's study, flanked on either side by Snape and Abraxas, interrupting whatever Voldemort was talking about with his lackeys.
"Hello father" he proclaimed with a malicious smile and a crazy glint in his eyes.
Voldemort did a double take, snapping his head quickly in his direction, while Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers were left open mouthed.
"WHAT!?" he roared after a second of silence.
Tom bursted out laughing, ignoring everyone's startled and horrified looks, Abraxas rolling his eyes behind him.
"Oh, come on, we need a cover story to explain why you exist, and why we look so similar to each other" he blinked innocently at his counterpart "and what better idea than to pretend you're Thomas Prince's father?"
Voldemort looked at the Lestranges, trying desperately to pretend his pale face hadn't turned red out of shame and embarrassment.
"Get out!" he barked, and they hastily retreated. Once they were out the door, he finally brought his attention over to the teen. "I am not pretending to be your father! And who is this other brat!"
Tom ignored his tantrum, stealing a bottle of firewhiskey from Lucius' cabinet and serving himself a glass.
"In order to win against Dumbledore, you will need to use your head and not only brute force. Starting by infiltrating the ministry is a good idea. And since Tom Riddle is supposed to be dead already, if not a very old man, then you need a new identity" he paused to take a sip "we thankfully don't look identical, so we can pretend to be father and son" Even if he wanted to deny it, Tom knew his plan was the best way of going forwards. "And answering your question, this is Abraxas Malfoy, my boyfriend"
Abraxas waved his hand, completely calm and unimpressed by him also.
By his side, Voldemort had his head on his hands, looking defeated. At least he wasn't yelling and throwing curses around— benefits of having all your soul back, Tom supposed. Or maybe he just didn't want to deal with Tom.
"Who am I exactly?" he asked begrudgingly after a while.
Tom served more firewhiskey and passed him the glass.
"Gerhardt Gaunt, Morfin's bastard son. You're married to Severus' nonexistent uncle"
"How exactly do you explain that we look like the Riddle family?"
"Well they're dead" he replied as if it was obvious, because it was "and nobody in the magic world knows what they looked like. And the Gaunt's lived isolated from everyone, the only people who knew Morfin are probably dead by now, or in Azkaban"
"Dumbledore will recognise me"
"Which is why I use a glamour regardless, dumbass- what do you suppose he's gonna do if he thinks you're Tom Riddle? Tell the ministry? Who's going to believe him? His grip on Hogwarts is slipping and soon they will all see him as a crazy old man"
Voldemort didn't even seem to have the energy to keep fighting with him anymore. Speaking with Tom was tiring.
"Why is your boyfriend here?"
"He came looking for me" he shrugged.
That snapped his attention back.
"Are you saying more of… your people, can come here?"
The two teenagers looked at each other.
"Well, if they really wanted to. I'm sure my parents won't worry too much, they'd only come if they think I'm in real danger. Which I'm not"
Abraxas raised an eyebrow towards him.
"That's because they don't know you're in Hogwarts, directly under Dumbledore's watch. If they catch wind of that somehow, you're dead"
Tom laughed nervously and diverted his gaze.
"Oh, come on, Dumbledore doesn't even know what I am, I can't possibly be a target for him"
"Don't underestimate the old coot" Voldemort stood up, walking towards the windows to look out into the cloudy, grey day "He has more tricks under his sleeve than you can imagine"
"And" Abraxas added, dead serious "you mustn't forget how he is so confident in being able to use you back home. There must be a way, even if you're much stronger than he will ever be"
Well, if you put it like that… Yes, it was better to be careful. Tom could be cocky and confident but he also knew when to back down and listen to what he was told. Well. Sometimes.
"Fine, whatever. The point is, my parents won't come here. And I don't know anyone else that could— except maybe Harry Potter but I've never met him so I'm not sure"
Voldemort turned in interest once again once the name was mentioned.
"The Dark Lord of your world?"
"The 'Dark Lord' title is just propaganda from the Ministry" Abraxas huffed and sat down, crossing his legs elegantly "he is more of a rebel, shall we say. But his reputation is stained mostly because of who he tries to protect. It just so happens that the hybrids and magical creatures on his side are either 'common beasts' or high society families such as mine. Labeled a criminal, but with no actual blood on his hands compared to the Ministry or the Order of the Phoenix."
"Our 'war' isn't actual bloodshed" Tom nodded in agreement. It was nothing but a cold war, and yet it felt like it had taken as many lives as the conflict between Voldemort and the Order of the Phoenix.
"There's one more question I have" Voldemort nodded towards Tom "You spoke with hatred about our mother yet you speak of both your parents"
Tom snickered and Abraxas rolled his eyes once again.
"Yeah well— my stepfather is Severus Prince"
Voldemort wanted to be surprised but to be honest, he should've seen it coming with how much trust the child put in Snape despite literally not knowing him.
"Well if your questions are all over, then I propose we settle the details of your new identity and discuss the 'Harry issue'. And no, I won't leave you alone until you agree"
Voldemort sighed.
"Actually, I know what to do with the Potter kid"