Welcome to the next chapter of "Road to Power".
I am glad to see that you all are liking my idea and decided to follow my story. I will try my hardest to make it as enjoyable as I can.
This whole story is not yet fully planned but I already know some of to more important events that I want to happen. I will be adding and changing things here and there, so I will never truly know what exactly will happen next.
There is also one important subject that I need to inform you about. Chapter length. Like I mentioned in the first chapter I am mostly trying to aim for 4k to 6k words per chapter. This might change for all of my stories as chapters this long are taking a lot out of me to write and sometimes it would be easier for me to just release a new chapter faster even if it was a bit shorter. I am not talking about shortening the chapter to 2k words, but to the 3k-4k border. This amount should still be nice for everyone to read and I will be able to release chapters a bit faster.
Tell me what you think as it is only a suggestion that I don't really need to use.
That would be all for this AN.
Enjoy.
Chapter 3. Where it all began
A few weeks again went by and my supposed birthday passed without notice. As the last week of July was ending I was beginning to wonder when would my Hogwarts letter come.
To be honest I wasn't even sure how I would get it. Normally every muggle-born should be introduced to the wizarding world by a professor personally. They would come and give you the crash course and maybe even take you to the Diagon Alley.
The question was how would it work with an orphan whose parents were magical. After all, Harry didn't know about magic, but no one came until the deadline. Would they treat me the same or would a professor come by?
Who knew.
Thankfully I knew enough of the wizarding world so if my letter was delivered by an owl, I would be able to get to Diagon Alley alone. The only problem would be explaining to my caretakers that I needed to go alone to the center of London. I definitely wouldn't be able to tell them about magic and my legilimency was still too weak to accomplish a subtle manipulation.
It would definitely be better if a professor came. Much less trouble and I would be able to ask some questions that I needed answers to. While I could search through books for them, it would be much faster to ask.
If they didn't come during the next week, then I would be going myself. I wanted to finally find out more about the current state of the wizarding world and sitting here wouldn't help me with that. Besides I was getting slightly bored...
I was happy with the ability to do magic, but on my own, I could only do so much. My control got even better and now I could summon and push things with barely any difficulty, but any harder task was still beyond me. I even tried to summon some elements, but I was mostly unsuccessful. The best I managed was a spark of light that I later used to make my wandless version of 'Lumos' spell. Useful little thing when I needed some quick light.
My occlumency progressed to the point that, now I could view some of the jumbled memories, but it gave me a headache later on, so again I was pretty sure that I was doing something wrong. I didn't know if I would be able to feel a legilimency probe, but I couldn't really test it. So while I progressed, I wasn't too sure how useful this improvement would be. At least my recall of information got a bit better...
I tried to figure out how to make my legilimency probes work more successfully, but I only managed to cause more pain to my test subjects. It wasn't anything dangerous, so I didn't feel any guilt from doing it. I was not sure I would even feel any even if it caused stronger pain. After all, you didn't survive in the underworld without your moral compass being at least a bit twisted.
Not that I was some mass-murdering maniac -at least in my humble opinion-, but I had done things in my past life that many would see as evil. I guess I should be at least a bit thankful that my life didn't make me a naive idiot that couldn't appreciate the things he had.
And I again went on some sappy reminiscing journey. Man, I really needed to stop doing that. I had a new life now, it opened so many possibilities for me, I shouldn't waste time thinking about something that I left behind...
Lately, I needed to tone down my thefts a bit as more than one time I spotted a police officer in one of my hot spots. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but I hoped that I could gather a bit more money before that. I only managed to get six hundred pounds and while it probably would be enough for now, it mostly depended on the exchange rate.
If it was anything higher than ten pounds to one galleon, then I might have a problem. After all how much additional stuff could you buy with no more than sixty galleons?
I didn't remember how much things cost in the cannon expect the wand, so I could either have too much money or I wouldn't even buy anything useful.
Oh well, it was time for my daily run. This body might be young, but I like to be in the peak of physical condition. After all better stamina was useful in many things, trust me I knew.
It was the final day of June that Albus Dumbledore, finally decided that he couldn't wait any longer with delivering the acceptance letter to young Logan. Albus spent many hours during this month thinking about what he should do.
The headmaster knew that he made many mistakes with Tom Riddle when he was young, and Albus at least partially was responsible for the rise of the next Dark Lord. With the war against Grindelwald, his former best friend, raging through Europe, Dumbledore at the time made many bad decisions.
He made up his opinion of Tom upon their first meeting and he never tried to change it. The orphaned boy definitely wasn't good when Albus met him, but he definitely wasn't completely evil. After all, he was a young boy who lived during both muggle and wizarding war.
Dumbledore could attempt to help the boy during his first years at school or at least forward his request to the previous Headmaster. Yes, Albus definitely made some mistakes, he was only a human, powerful and old one, but still a human.
He promised himself that he wouldn't make the same mistakes this time. The living standards for orphans improved drastically in the last decades, so Albus hoped that the child at least had a good life. Even then, deep inside Dumbledore was praying that the child had no relations to Voldemort.
Sighing Albus steeled himself and slowly walked towards the entrance of the Children's Home. He already transfigurated his usual eccentric robes into something that would make him blend into the muggle environment. Some magical might have abandoned the usual robes, but Dumbledore was just too used to them. Besides, it amused him to see people's reactions to his choice of clothing.
The building looked quite nice and Albus' hopes raised a bit. At least it was much better than Wool's Orphanage that Tom lived in.
As Dumbledore walked inside, he quickly spotted an older person -probably part of the staff here- and made his way to her.
"Good morning," Albus said politely, "I would like to speak with he current manager of this Home."
The woman turned around to look at Dumbledore and immediately raised an eyebrow at his usual appearance. Even without his robes, Albus was an interesting looking fellow, "Good morning," she finally answered, "Please follow me Mr.?"
"Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore," he introduced himself with a dip of his head.
"Right, Mr. Dumbledore follow me the manager should be able to see you now... If you don't mind me asking, what is the point of your visit?" she asked as they walked through the hallways.
"Not really," Albus answered with a small smile, "I am here to invite one of your occupants to my school. And before you ask, I, unfortunately, can't tell you what school it is. We are a very private organization miss."
The woman nodded and didn't speak any further. Albus was thankful as he really didn't like to explain everything to muggles. In the worst-case, he was allowed to use oblivation or weak confundus charm to help in avoiding questions, but it was only the last resort when muggles wouldn't cooperate. Thankfully the muggle government provided wizards with some fake documents about their schools, so the explanation process would be easier.
Finally, they arrived at the door that led to the manager's office, the woman quickly went inside to inform the person of Albus' arrival, and a moment later the headmaster was invited inside.
The inside of the room was quite modest. White walls, a single shelf for some files, and a working desk, that had one of those computers on it that Dumbledore heard about. Finally, there was the manager.
He was an older man with graying hair, maybe in his fifties. He had the usual stern expression that Albus got used to around Minerva and that little thought amused the headmaster a bit.
"Good morning. My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the headmaster of a private school in Scotland," Albus again introduced himself.
The manager nodded, "Max Owens, it is a pleasure to meet you. Please sit down," the man gestured to the empty seat.
Albus accepted the offer and got himself comfortable, "As I mentioned, I am the headmaster of a school and I would like to offer one of yours wards a place there."
Owens raised an eyebrow ina visible surprise, "While I am sure that all of the children here are special in their own right, I don't think that we have anyone here that would catch the interest of a private school."
Albus shook his head, "It works a bit differently with my school. The student I am talking about was on our list after he was put there by his parents," a complete lie, but he couldn't tell the man that they had an enchanted book that had the list of every magical child that could attend Hogwarts.
The man nodded slowly, but he evidently didn't believe everything, "Just to be sure, could I get some documents that would prove your story?"
Dumbledore was of course prepared for such a reaction so he took out a small folder of files from the small bag he was carrying, "This should be enough I hope."
Owens read through the files before nodding, "I am sorry for doubting you Mr. Dumbledore, but I want to make sure that my pupils will be safe."
Dumbledore waved him off, "It's not a problem. I would do the same, after all, we need to look out for the next generations. That being said I was hoping that you could tell me a bit of my future student before I meet him."
"And who would the lucky student be?" Owens asked curiously.
"Mr. Logan Hunt."
The manager leaned back in his chair, "Young Logan eh? He is a good boy. Quite reserved and quiet, but we never had any problems with him. Even though he mostly keeps to himself, my staff tells me that he doesn't have problems with socializing. It is interesting to hear that his parents would provide him with education after abandoning him here without even a name."
Dumbledore sighed tiredly, of course, they would do that. Albus quickly used a weak confundus charm and gave the man some very unbelievable explanations. There was no way that he could explain how he found an unnamed child without some help.
Finally, their conversation came to an end and the manager led Albus to Logan's room. The old headmaster couldn't deny that he was a bit nervous. After all, he would finally find out if Voldemort sired a child.
The manager again went in first to inform the child of Albus' arrival and only then Dumbledore could go in to meet the boy alone.
The moment he went inside and took a look at the boy, Albus could honestly admit that his calm facade fell for a second. It was not every day that he met someone who had so many similarities to the last Dark Lord.
The boy definitely possessed most of Tom's features when he was young. The only visible differences that Albus could spot were the very short hair, some more delicate features that probably came from the boy's mother, and finally the eyes. They were the combination of Voldemort's red gaze and whatever color his mother had.
At least Dumbledore could claim with some relief that the boy's vermilion eyes didn't hold any madness that Voldemort possessed. He really wanted to at least make a surface scan of the boy's thoughts, but he stopped himself. Before the boy did something that could warrant such an action, Dumbledore would hold himself back. Besides the boy, quickly averted his eyes, so there was no way for any passive probe.
Oh well, it was time to introduce himself.
"Good morning young man, I am Professor Albus Dumbeldore and I would like to invite you to my school," said the polite voice of Albus Fucking Dumbledore.
What the fuck was going on? Why would the headmaster of Hogwarts come to meet me? Wasn't it McGonagall's job to meet the new students who were raised outside the wizarding world? Did they know who I really was?
Still, his reaction when he saw me was priceless. It was very short, but the look on his face... Now he definitely knew who I was, thankfully he didn't know that I also knew. I just needed to cement this opinion. Besides, I finally knew that the cannon was moved forward... or something changed and Dumbledore survived.
"Mister Logan Hunt yes?" he asked and I quickly nodded in affirmation, "Before we begin this is for you."
I took the letter from him and after reading the address I instantly knew why it was Dumbledore who came here.
Logan Riddle(Hunt)
Fuck you, magical quill! Of course, it would know who I am, I groaned in my head. Defeated by an old artifact. Oh well, if I played it right, then I could clear myself with Dumbledore.
To keep the appearances I asked before opening, "Riddle? But I was always a Hunt, at least the caretakers told me that."
Dumbledore scratched his beard, "I will explain in a moment, for now, please open it."
I nodded and did as I was told.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Hunt,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. The term begins on 1 September.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
The first page was almost the same as in cannon only without the reply part. Understandably, as after all a professor was here and he could hear my response personally. I was happy that they decided to address me with my new last name and not Voldemort's. Fewer problems for me.
The second page had the list with all the needed equipment, but I instantly noticed that some of the things were changed. Some of the books were the same while others were completely unknown to me. Apart from that I only needed some ceremonial robes instead of the full set. There was an add notation that they were used during every important event in the school, including the beginning of the year.
I really hoped that it was a sign that the wizarding clothing style got at least a bit modernized. Well, Dumbledore was garbed in normal clothes, but that could be because he needed to walk among mundanes to visit me.
The rest of the list was almost the same so I finally put away the letter and looked back at Dumbledore with a confused expression, "School of Witchcraft and Wizardy? Are you sure you are a professor mister?"
The old man chuckled in amusement, "I assure you young man that everything you just read is true. Tell me, did you ever experienced something unusual happening around you? Especially when you were feeling strong emotions."
I pretended to think about it before giving an uncertain answer, "I think that a few times I made things float around me when I was frustrated. I never told anyone as I wasn't sure what it was."
Dumbledore nodded with a smile, if I was, to be honest, I thought that he would be a bit more hostile towards me. I definitely read too much evil Dumbledore fanfictions.
"Those random events are called accidental magic. Almost every magical child performs them from time to time or when they are in distress. It is completely normal."
"So this school," I said trying to sound skeptical, "Would teach me how to control that?"
"This and more," Dumbledore explained, "Hogwarts is one of the most prestigious school of magic in the entire world. There are many magical arts out there and we teach most of them."
Well, that was a lie if I ever heard one. Hogwarts teaches some of the subjects, but if I was to believe both cannon and some of the fanon then Hogwarts barely taught the basics.
This was something I would need to find out on my own when I finally got to Diagon Alley -hopefully, today-, I couldn't believe in everything I knew from my past life. After all, this universe was much different so everything was possible.
As I decided that it was time to slowly finish this conversation, I put the most innocent smile on my face and asked, "Could you show me some magic before I decide?"
Dumbledore gave me a large smile in return, "Of course," with that the old wizard took out his wand -the fabled Elder Wand, one of the Hallows, something I definitely wanted to get my hands on later- and transfigured one of my books into a small bird.
Even though I could do some magic, it was still a bit exciting to see someone perform it before me.
"So what do I need to do to go to Hogwarts?" I asked after Dumbledore completed his show.
"If you are sure of your decision, we will go to one of the wizarding shopping districts to get your supplies. As you are an orphan, I will need to accompany you on your first trip there," Dumbledore said after he hid his wand.
It was really interesting that it was the first time he mentioned my orphan status. He also didn't explain to me the Riddle part of my name, but I was happy with leaving this subject alone. The fewer questions I asked about my family the less suspicion would be on me. Yeah, I was a kid who probably should want to know about his birth family, but as my father was a Dark Lord, it was just safer to drop it.
"We will go now?" I suddenly asked.
Dumbledore nodded, "I just need to inform your guardians, please prepare when I am gone."
With that, the wizard walked out of the room leaving me alone. Well, this certainly went better than I thought. When I saw Dumbledore entering my room I thought that he would instantly throw me into Azkaban.
Stupid? Maybe, but could you blame me?
Now I would finally be going to the Diagon Alley. The place where it all would begin.
That would be it for this chapter.
I know it was shorter, but like I said it should let me release more chapters, more often. Don't worry sometimes the chapters will be longer. FO example, the next chapter for this story should be out in 3 to 4 days.
Now about this chapter. We finally got the meeting between Dumbledore and Logan. Dumbledore is trying to be nice and fix his mistakes, while Logan in playing the confused, but a bit smarter child.
The next chapter will be the last before we go to Hogwarts.
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any questions please leave them in the reviews or PM.
Have a good day/night.