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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Harriet Potter considered herself fortunate as she graduated from Hogwarts with her friends at her side.
Tom begrudged his own failings as he and Harriet talked in the fond way old friends often did.
"So then, still heading into the Auror Training Programme?" He asked.
"Oh, absolutely, Tom!" Harriet laughed, "I wouldn't dream of anything else!"
The large graduation party held on the castle's lawn for the leaving alumni droned on behind them as a pitiful frown crossed Tom's handsome features.
"...Tom?" Harriet pouted, "What's the matter? You have your apprenticeship at the Ministry already secured. Your mother must be proud of you, I know I am."
"That's very kind of you, Harriet." Tom said with a charming smile, "But my aspirations extend beyond the simple work assigned to an office. Haven't you noticed how many other couples in our year have already mated? Several will be married by the end of the month. What a sublime peace that must be."
"Oh, Tom." Harriet smiled, "You're going to work in the Ministry. You'll meet dozens of omegas every week. You'll have plenty of time to find the right mate."
"Perhaps." Tom sighed as he took a sip of his punch before he glanced at Harriet and asked, "...And you?"
"What about me?" Harriet chuckled.
"My invitation remains open." Tom taunted in his smooth voice.
Harriet's heart fluttered but she turned her friend's romantic advance down in hopes of establishing professional success for herself.
"You're very sweet, Tom." She nodded.
"Most people disagree." He scowled.
"But," Harriet continued, "I have to make a life for myself first, before I could possibly consider…..you know……being with someone."
"I can take care of you, Harriet Potter." Tom solemnly vowed.
"I'm not your burden to bear, Tom Riddle." Harriet chuckled.
Tom's dark eyes glimmered as he gave more of his thoughts away than he would have liked, "If I was your alpha, Harriet, you wouldn't have to worry about anything. Anything! I would protect you, I would provide for you, I would-"
"-I know you would, Tom." Harriet interrupted with a nod. She laughed as she asked, "You still don't understand, do you?"
Tom frowned as Harriet gave him a bittersweet grin before she walked off into the crowd.
He sighed agaisnt the heavy weight that pressed on his soul.
From his position, he couldn't see the mask of anguish on Harriet's fair face.
With hormones raging and Tom's musky scent surrounding her, it had taken every ounce of her courage to refuse her good friend's suggestion.
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It pained Harriet even more as she began her training and realized the rigorous programme left her no time to see Tom or anyone else.
Months passed without a single opportunity to meet Hermione for tea or chat with Ron at The Burrow.
As a Quidditch veteran and a Hogwarts alumni, Harriet was not unaccustomed to being challenged physically and intellectually, yet she still found auror training to be particularly difficult.
On many occasions, she struggled through her work and sighed as she glanced out the window in her flat to wonder if she hadn't made the wrong choice.
Had Tom been right?
Should she have placed more priority on finding love rather than pursuing other empty fantasies?
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Tom walled his feelings for Harriet deep inside his heart.
He was too blinded by his own infatuation to merely entertain the idea that perhaps she did not want him.
Perhaps she would never want him……..
No.
Tom Riddle wouldn't allow himself to linger on such heinous lies for a single moment.
Instead of brooding about his temporary setback, he merely bided his time.
Tom threw himself into his work at the Ministry.
Certain to always make a good impression on whoever he spoke with and in whatever he did, Tom gradually rose to the top.
If Harriet hadn't deemed him important enough to be her mate during his school boy days, then he decided he would just have to impress her further.
While Harriet had no time to conduct a social life, she did write to her friends, including Tom, every so often.
Her letters were like a balm to his bleeding heart.
As he clung to each word her beautiful hand had scrawled on the parchment she sent each month, he felt as though he could breathe until the next one.
It irritated him beyond measure when he won the election five years later as his darling continued her current assigned mission.
For longer than Tom cared to think about, Harriet had been traveling through Eastern Europe on various quests assigned to her by the soon to retire Head Auror.
While she had indeed proved herself to be capable in her field, Tom begrudged the flashing lights of cameras and the many questions hurled at him by reporters on the day of his official inauguration.
What difference did any of it make without his darling?
He had dreamed since his boyhood of becoming magical Britain's most celebrated, respected, and highest-paid wizard.
In the crowd, he saw his mother beaming, yet her smile failed to mend Tom's broken heart.
As he stood in the center of his victory, on record as the youngest Minister for Magic in wizarding Britain's history, Tom's triumph seemed hollow.
He sighed as he walked off the platform with his aides guarding him against the torrents of well-wishers and inquisitive journalists.
The world seemed to go by in slow motion.
To his dismay, Tom understood in that moment he would never find peace or happiness until Harriet Potter became his.
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Having long ago murdered his father and grandparents before blaming the crimes on his maternal uncle, Tom Flooed home to Riddle Manor later that night.
It had taken several lies and a bit of coaxing, but Merope had eventually come to dwell there too.
As he laid down in his spacious bed piled with velvet duvets and fluffy, silk pillows, he frowned to himself as he stared up at the ceiling.
The glory he had dreamt of for years seemed as devastatingly meaningless as his bed.
He clutched his beloved's beige bra in his hands as he thought, having kept his trophy all those years.
What difference did anything make if Harriet Potter wasn't next to him?
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Tom's move into the Minister for Magic's office went far less smoothly than he would have liked.
Every small thing irritated him, from the subtle creak of the luxurious chair at the mahogany desk to the width of the massive windows.
Why did he need to look out over all the people scurrying through the lobby?
Harriet Potter wasn't among them, that alone made the sight of others detestable to his dark eyes!
The witches and wizards on the Minister's aid team, most of who were not much older than Tom, all waited anxiously for the new Minister's barked orders.
"Minister Riddle, sir, how else may we make you comfortable?" One aide bravely asked as his coworkers stood and waited anxiously for their next command.
"Do you not believe I intend to tell you that without prompting?" Tom hissed, "I am the Minister for Magic now! I will say what is done and when it is to be done! Do you understand?!"
"Yes, sir, we understand." Another aide frowned.
Tom huffed as a scowl marred his handsome features while he thought.
His staff had gone out of their way to accommodate the many requests he had hurled at them throughout his first day and yet, they still had not incurred his happiness.
None of the aides realized it wasn't what Minister Riddle was looking for, it was whom.
"I must say," Tom began in a low hiss as he brooded. His dark eyes snapped over to his unfortunate subordinates as he quipped, "I am vehemently disappointed in the Ministry's current staffing selections."
The aides all glanced at each other nervously as they feared for their job security.
"M-Minister Riddle….?" One dared to ask.
"Specifically in the Auror Department!" Tom roared as he glared at the young wizard, "I heard the Head Auror will retire soon! Then who will replace him? He's foolishly sent our best into the field, far away from Britain! How can we possibly seek to replace him with someone who possesses a tenth of his competency?! I fail to be impressed by those who remain within the Ministry's halls!"
The aides were shocked by Tom's cold assessment of the Auror Department, although their expressions betrayed their relief they hadn't garnered his disdain.
"With all due respect, Minister Riddle," The first aide who had spoken began, "...Your authority permits you to override any decision made at the Ministry. If there's someone you wish to have returned, you need only to write your formal order."
Tom's harsh scowl lessened as he remembered his own foolishness.
Absolute power.
He had sought absolute power and once he had finally seized it, he had forgotten how he could use it at will.
"Of that, I am aware!" He snapped at his aide, unwilling to admit any sort of miscalculation, "Now, go! All of you! I have more important matters that demand my attention!"
Tom's abused aides nearly fell over themselves as they all scrambled to flee his office.
Once they had gone, Tom retrieved a bare piece of parchment and a quill from his desk drawer.
As soon as he had dipped the quill's tip into the inkwell, he hastily began to scrawl lines onto the waiting page.
Once his message had been written, he called an owl to his office directly, placed the parcel in the bird's mouth and watched it fly off with his letter.
Left with nothing but his thoughts to occupy him, his dark scow returned as he brooded.
He would never force Harriet's consent to become his mate.
No, what satisfaction would there be in that?
However, as her employer, he delighted in the knowledge that he could certainly dictate the details of her job location.
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Harriet sighed to herself as she woke the next morning and prepared to start her day.
She showered, dressed, and was nearly done with breakfast when a fluffy owl came fluttering up to her flat's windowsill.
Harriet blinked as she rose from her small dining table, walked over, and retrieved the letter from the bird's beak.
She had heard the news about Tom's election win.
That still didn't prepare her for the letter she received from her old friend that morning.
After she slit the envelope and removed the parchment from within, her emerald eyes narrowed as they hurriedly scanned over the written lines:
Dear Harriet Potter,
You may have heard that I have recently been elected as the new Minister for Magic. As I've already been settled into my office, I am reaching out to extend this order to you. Please end your field mission as quickly as possible and report back to the Ministry for your next assignment. You have been chosen to assume the role of Head Auror. I trust you'll be able to return within the month? Please reply immediately and advise of your intended timeline. If your schedule prohibits you from following my command, I'll gladly send a replacement so that you may return straight away.
Sincerely,
Thomas Marvolo Riddle Junior, Minister for Magic
Harriet sucked in a breath as she clutched the letter in her hands.
Her heart fluttered as she walked out of the kitchen, sat at her desk, and began to pen a reply.
With the passage of time, Harriet had gained new goals in her life.
She had completed the training programme, achieved success in her career, and had subsequently set her eye on other accomplishments.
Her smile was relentless as her quill danced over the parchment.
Harriet could hardly wait to return to the Ministry of Magic, although seeing Tom was only one benefit on her mind.