Chapter 27

The rest of the week progressed in a predictable manner. Harry and Tom worked on Occlumency as often as was possible, but there was actual homework to attend to as well that occasionally had to take priority. There were two more Potions classes that week, and in both instances, Harry found small bits in the instructions where he actually knew a different technique to use than the one described and found with some surprise, that he was doing quite well, even when Tom didn't give him any direct guidance.

Tom didn't get his modifications and notes written up until the end of the week, so Harry didn't even have that to explain his improved performance.

Defense lessons had continued a focus on nonverbal spell casting, and Snape had pointedly ignored both Harry and Tom ever since that first lesson. Which was perfectly fine by Harry. Most of rest of the class was still struggling with casting anything silently, so when practical practice happened in class, Tom just took advantage of it to run Harry through more of the same sort of drills they'd been doing all summer, in as subtle a manner as was possible, and still remain within the requirements of whatever lesson Snape was giving.

Since it was 6th year now, and not everyone had scored high enough to qualify for NEWT level classes in every subject, not everyone was taking all of the main classes anymore. Since a fewer total of people had signed up for each class, continuing on with two full sections - each section a group of two of the houses combined - and ending up with two small groups, all four houses were combined into one section. It meant that in several of the sections the classes were larger in total than they had been before, but not by much. Plus the professor only had to deal with one section of sixth years.

This meant that this year Malfoy was in nearly all of the same classes as Harry and Tom. The one exception being Herbology, which Harry assumed he just wasn't taking this year. Ron had whined about this on numerous occasions, but Harry had to admit that so far Malfoy hadn't done anything to any of them. He hadn't even badmouthed Ron, and he'd had a couple opportunities to do it.

Harry had also noticed a couple instances where it looked like Malfoy was trying to work up to speaking to Harry, but so far he hadn't actually acted on the impulse. Malfoy had been giving Tom quite a few curious looks, and was clearly surprised by Harry and Tom's class performance so far.

By Saturday Harry was exhausted and his head felt overly full. Hermione had been right about the workload, and the amount of homework was mildly staggering. But mostly he was terrified of his meeting with Dumbledore that night, and did not feel even the slightest bit prepared for it.

He and Tom had done as well as could be expected, though Harry did regret not putting nearly as much focus into his occlumency lessons over the summer. Tom had at least gotten Harry started on constructing false memories to use as decoys, but Harry was not confident that they would pass any honest inspection.

Tom actually didn't seem nearly as worried as Harry was, insisting that it was Dumbledore's modus operandi to only do the lightest of surface scans, just to check for any obvious signs of dishonesty. He didn't delve deeper without considerable incentive, and Tom said that Harry's efforts so far were definitely good enough to pass a light legilmency sweep.

Harry just hoped that Tom was right. Just the same, Harry actually had his trunk mostly packed in case he had to run for it on short notice. Ron had noticed this and had attempted to raise Harry's spirits by distracting him with Quidditch, and then making Harry promise that he'd go flying with Ron on Sunday; making it clear that he expected Harry to still be there on Sunday.

That evening at a quarter to eight Harry put the Transfiguration essay he'd been attempting and failing to start work on aside and bid Tom and his friends goodbye. Hermione called out a worried good luck while Tom whispered that he'd be paying attention to that little niggling feeling in the back of his mind for any signs of panic and if he sensed anything, he'd probably force his way into Dumbledore's office.

Harry was both concerned by that prospect and comforted by it. With that, Harry left the common room with a sense of heavy trepidation.

It was about an hour and a half later when he returned. It was past curfew and the number of people in the common room had dropped quite a bit, though Ron, Hermione, and Tom were still there waiting for him. Tom stood as soon as he saw Harry coming in through the portrait hole, looking at Harry questioningly. Harry gave him a tired, yet reassuring look and made his way over to the secluded corner the other three were gathered in.

"So how'd it go?" Ron asked eagerly.

Harry heaved a sigh and frowned slightly as he attempted to come up with the best way to explain what had transpired.

"Well, it went fine, I guess. He never once even tried to read my mind, so all that worry and work on the Occlumency wasn't even necessary."

"I would hardly call it unnecessary," Tom interjected. "It's something we honestly needed to put more effort into anyway, and this was a reasonable kick in the bum to get us to really put some effort forth."

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, other than that, the meeting certainly wasn't what I was expecting."

"What did he teach you?" Ron asked, sitting forward with more interest now.

"I wouldn't say he taught me anything. We just used his pensieve to view a memory."

"The whole time? You've been gone more than an hour!" Ron exclaimed.

"It was a long memory," Harry said tiredly.

"What was it?" Hermione asked.

Harry glanced over towards Tom for a moment, giving him something of a meaningful look before turning back to the group as a whole. "Well, it was the memory of a ministry worker named Bob Ogden from sometime back in… the mid 20's I suppose? It was probably a year and a half before Voldemort was born. It was a memory of this Ogden guy visiting Voldemort's grandfather, uncle, and mother, because the uncle had attacked a muggle - who turned out to be Voldemort's father."

Ron and Hermione's eyes had both gone quite wide. Tom's face seemed to freeze into a motionless mask.

"But… buy why?" Hermione asked finally.

Harry heaved a sigh and shrugged. "I couldn't begin to tell you. But he claims that it's relevant to the 'Prophecy'," Harry paused, making air-quotes with his fingers. "I suppose I'll just have to hang on longer to try and work out what game he's trying to play."

Hermione shook her head looking somewhat woeful. Harry knew it still hurt quite a lot for her to think that Dumbledore wasn't the man she'd always thought him to be. Harry was certainly familiar with that feeling.

She packed up her school things shortly after that, and Ron called it a night as well. He looked to Harry and Tom expectantly, but Harry told him he was going to try and make up for some of the time he'd wasted not doing his homework, and Tom offered to stay and keep him company.

"I get the impression that there's more to the memory and the meeting than what you said earlier?" Tom said quietly as soon as Ron and Hermione had both gone and a subtle privacy ward had been erected.

"And you'd be right," Harry said with a nod of his head as he sat forward, leaning in close to Tom. "He was showing me horcruxes - not that he said that, but both the ring and the necklace were featured fairly prominently in that memory."

Tom's eyes widened. "Really?" he asked, his tone both surprised and interested. "Can… can you tell me about it? This memory, I mean?"

"Yeah, sure. So this guy, Bob Ogden, was a Ministry worker. He went to this old hovel at the edge of a town called Little Ha—"

"Little Hangleton," Tom said lowly and nodded. "Yes, I know the house quite well."

"Right. So he went there because the Ministry had detected that Morphin — your uncle?"

Tom nodded.

"They detected that Morphin had hexed a muggle. It turned out that the muggle was your father. You mother, Merope, had apparently been looking at him and watching him as he rode down the street on his horse or whatever, and Morphin worked out that she fancied him and wanted to 'teach her a lesson.' So he hexed your dad."

Tom nodded his head slowly, his brow creased and a focused look of concentration on his face.

"So anyway, Bob Ogden shows up and Morphin starts yelling at him in Parseltongue, and Ogden has no idea what he's saying. Morphin hexes Ogden, but then Marvolo, your grandfather, showed up and yelled at Morphin. They all ended up inside the house and thats when I saw Merope for the first time. She was wearing the locket around her neck — I noticed that right away. She was also a mess. Like, emotionally beaten down. I felt awful for her. So anyway, Marvolo does most of the talking with Ogden, pausing only to curse out Merope and accuse her of being a worthless squib. I think it's more likely that she was just terrified of him, because the man was totally out of his mind, and really kind of violent.

"After that Marvolo gets upset with Ogden, and starts talking about how he was descended from Slytherin — he grabbed Merope by the neck, just to drag her close and show the locket that was around her neck, yelling at Ogden that it was Slytherin's and that they descended from him. He was also wearing the ring and shoved it in Ogden's face once, saying it was the 'Peverel crest'. Basically he was trying to prove something by pointing our their pure lines, but Ogden obviously didn't give a crap.

"At one point, they hear talking out the window and on the road that passed by the house, and it turned out to be your dad and some girl riding down the road on horseback. That's when Morphin and Marvolo start talking in Parseltongue about why Morphin hexed the muggle in the first place. Once Marvolo heard it was because Morphin thought Merope fancied a muggle, Marvolo flew into a rage and attacked Merope. Ogden actually protected her at first, but then Marvolo attacked Ogden and the man had to run for it. Dumbledore said that a short time later, Ogden came back with reinforcements from the Ministry and arrested Morphin and Marvolo, leaving Merope free to finally plan and make her escape. He said…" Harry hesitated here, making something of a wary face, "uhm… Dumbledore said he figured that Merope slipped the muggle Tom Riddle a love potion and got him to run away with her to London."

Tom nodded his head slowly, still looking deep in thought and concentration. "I had basically already worked that part out. The love potion part, I mean. I did meet my uncle once… very briefly. He was barely coherent at the time as this was long after he'd had a stay in Azkaban, but I was able to piece together something along those lines. However I mostly worked out the love potion likelihood based on the story I extracted from my father before I killed him."

"Ah… yeah," Harry said, making something of a face.

"Still… the fact that Dumbledore had managed to track down a memory from that time… and one that included both the locket and the ring… it's almost impressive if it weren't so unsettling."

"Yeah…"

"I can only imagine that he had to have been collecting memories for years and from a tremendous variety of sources, to finally come across some that seemed worth something. I doubt he has much more than a passing suspicion, and no proof, that the ring and locket are Horcruxes, but based on my grandfather's reverence of them both, he probably assumed they were good candidates, which is mostly likely the real reason he showed you that memory. Not to teach you about my shoddy ancestry."

"So you think he's probably got more memories waiting about different items he think you might have made into horcruxes? But why would he be showing me that?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"I'm not really sure to be honest. Though I've long suspected that he thinks he can use you to find the horcruxes because of your connection to them. I wonder if he would actually try to get you to help him find them without revealing to you why you specifically were best for that task."

"You mean, him get me to look for them without letting me realize that I am one — yeah?"

"Precisely," Tom said with a nod.

Harry nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. "Yeah, I can see him managing to spin that. I was always terrible about actually questioning him when he gave me shite and vague answers. I mean, once I asked him about my being a parselmouth and he told me he believed that you had left a piece of your magic behind inside me. It freaked me out at the time, but I didn't question him further on it. I didn't ask him why he thought that, or what that even meant. Once it was clear he didn't intend to offer up any more information, I just accepted that and moved on. Blast it, I was such a bleeding idiot!"

"You're not an idiot, Harry. You were just too trusting. Trusting of the wrong person," Tom said with a sigh before frowning. "He told you he thought I'd left behind a piece of my magic? Bloody hell, that's just… I mean, he practically told you right there - just without telling you."

"Yeah, I know," Harry nodded with a disgruntled sneer on his face. "Last year was the worst though. He refused to even look me in the eye, the whole school year. Of course, the one time he did, I was overcome with this insane anger and loathing for him. I think it was from you actually. Seriously freaked me out."

Tom looked at Harry with wide eyes and raised brows. "That's… interesting. He clearly has much deeper suspicions on all of what's going on here than he ever shared with others — you especially. For him to somehow anticipate that making eye contact with him would initiate some sort of connection over our soul link… he's obviously been doing a tremendous amount of research and study into this phenomenon. He probably understands it better than even I do… which is entirely infuriating." Tom scowled, which actually caused Harry to grin a little as he couldn't help but think the expression looked somewhat cute.

Finally Tom heaved a sigh and shook his head. "Well, I suppose we can save such thoughts for another day. Did you actually want to try and get a bit of work done, or do you want to skive off and just go to bed?"

Harry yawned and stretched a bit and shrugged. "Honestly? Bed is considerably more appealing than writing an essay."

"But… the essay is due Monday morning and if you don't do it now, you'll have to do either tomorrow, when you promised Ron you'd go flying with him, or Monday morning during breakfast," Tom finished for him.

Harry grimaced and then gave a defeated sigh. "Essay it is."

— — —

Harry, Ron, and Tom climbed down the stairs from the boys dormitories and into the common room Sunday just after lunch to find Hermione waiting there for them. Ron and Harry both had their brooms and quidditch gear while Tom just looked mildly bored.

"Hey Hermione! Wanna come down to the pitch and watch us practice?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Er…" she hesitated grimacing slightly. "Actually, I was thinking that I might steal Tom for the afternoon, since you two will be off flying and I've gotten the impression he's not entirely enthusiastic about that. Or — just not as enthusiastic as you two are," she corrected quickly.

Tom's eyebrows raised curiously.

"What do you need Tom for?" Harry asked somewhat warily.

"Well," she turned her focus on Tom, "I was hoping you might come to the library with me and help me search for any books pertaining to the history of the house elves and their affliction?"

Understanding lit up Tom's face. "Oh, yes! Right. You know…" he hesitated giving Harry a slightly sheepish look, "I did promise her, you know… I still intend to come watch the Gryffindor tryouts next Saturday, but you know…"

Harry chuckled. "It's fine, Tom. I know you were only coming along to humor me. It's fine. Go to the library with 'Mione. We both know you'd feel more comfortable there than the Pitch."

Tom gave Harry a grateful smile and turned his focus back to Hermione.

"Looks like I'm yours for the afternoon."

"Brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, reaching down and picking up her satchel and slinging it over her shoulder. "I've been looking forward to this since summer! I was hoping to get to the library and look this up sooner, but with all the homework the professors have been piling on, I just haven't had the chance!"

Tom chuckled fondly and began to follow the witch out. He looked over his shoulder as Ron and Harry, catching Ron rolling his eyes dramatically and getting a small wave and a grin out of Harry.

Tom knew that Harry had been surprised with his offer to Hermione to help with her S.P.E.W. efforts, and Tom had quickly come to understand that both Ron and Harry had been worn beyond thin on her endeavor for elfish welfare a long time ago. Tom was coming to understand that Hermione just needed a little aiming to calm her down. It wasn't a matter of telling her if she was right or wrong, it was a matter of nudging her gradually with logic. Tom still seriously doubted that elves could be freed on mass any time in the near future, but he was interested by her suggestion that it was possible that another solution existed to save the house elves, beyond bonded slavery, and it simply hadn't been discovered for lack of anyone bothering to try.

It posed itself as a potentially interesting puzzle, and he was beginning to feel like he needed something else to occupy his time, beyond school work and hanging out on the periphery of the various student activities. Harry often tried to pull him into things, and he'd been more successful than not, but Tom still wasn't entirely engaged by the sort of things students did in the common room to keep themselves occupied.

Tom and Hermione arrived in the school's library a short trip later and Hermione headed directly to the section on magical creatures and began her search. Tom followed along, skimming the spines of the books in a more relaxed casual sort of manner before pausing thoughtfully and pulling out his wand.

Hermione was in the process of pulling out a third book and skimming through it intently when she glanced over and watched him as he made a complicated series of wand movements before finishing up with a sharp jab towards the books. A thin wispy string of golden light seemed to ooze out of the tip of his wand and snaked its way through the air, flying back and forth each row, pausing and a book every now and then and making little loops before continuing on it's way. At one book where it took several moments longer than the others, it left some wispy light behind and the book began to glow. The light continued to move on, traveling up the next two shelves and causing four more books to glow before the golden light faded out completely.

Hermione was gaping openly and was shaken out of her stupor only when Tom moved over and began to pull each of the glowing books from the shelves.

She made a semi-startled noise and quickly reached up and grabbed the two books nearest her.

"Was that Ypolit Hippolytus's Quaere spell?" she asked with a hushed excitement in her tone.

Tom looked at her, mildly impressed and surprised. "Yes, it was," he confirmed, grabbing the last of the glowing books.

"I've never seen anyone who could cast it successfully before!" she exclaimed with an enthusiastic whisper. "I've tried so many times, but I can never get it to work!"

Tom hummed thoughtfully, nodding his head. "It does take quite a substantial amount of energy and concentration to power the spell. Ypolit Hippolytus was said to be an exceptionally powerful wizard for his day, and he tended to invent spells that took full advantage of what he could do."

Tom made his way to a nearby table with Hermione following quickly after him. "You know, Hermione… I could probably work with you on some exercises for focusing and pulling out more of your potential power. I wouldn't be surprised at all if you could pull off a Quaere if you had some better technique. Hogwarts has always been terrible about actually teaching the students to understand their magical core and how to connect with it…. or so I've been told," he back-peddled quickly.

She looked thoughtful and nodded her head slowly. "I'd like to give it a shot. Being able to successfully cast Quaere would make searching for information in here a thousand times easier and faster," she gushed dramatically.

"Yes, it's considerably fast to have a spell search for keywords for you than doing it manually," Tom chuckled and rolled his eyes. "It doesn't seem like it should be as difficult as it is. Honestly, I'd consider looking into inventing a more energy-efficient version that would do the same sort of thing, if it weren't for the fact that I don't really have any trouble with Quaere as it is so there just wasn't much incentive."

"You've studied spell invention?" Hermione asked with interest.

"Tom made an affirmative hum and nodded his head somewhat distractedly as he flipped open the first book on his stack and began flipping through it and skimming the table of contents.

"I've always wanted to study spell creation," Hermione said somewhat dreamily.

"They used to have a class in it," Tom said with a slightly derisive snort. "They used to have a lot of other classes," he muttered quietly.

"At Hogwarts, you mean?"

"Mmhmm," Tom nodded, pausing to flip a few pages further and skimming the text there.

"I've heard that each Headmaster tends to re-work the curriculum a bit," Hermione said thoughtfully before grabbing the first book in front of her.

"A bit," Tom snorted sarcastically. "The classes offered were stunningly different when the last headmaster ran the school."

"Armando Dippet? How do you know?"

Tom nodded. "My… father. You need to understand that when I was conceived he was already in his 40's, so when he attended Hogwarts in his youth, it was before Dumbledore took over as Headmaster. Anyway, he told me about his time at Hogwarts and the sorts of classes he took while here. There were a lot more teachers too — which is probably the biggest reason that a lot of courses were cut. I can't fathom how the current teachers are capable of handling as many classes and students as they presently do. I swear, they'd each need a Time-Turner just to manage it. The schedules couldn't possibly be arranged in any reasonable fashion."

"Mmmm," Hermione made a humming sound of agreement while thoughtfully nodding her head. "You know, I'm somewhat surprised you know what a Time-Turner even is. But you do have a point. I almost wonder if some of the professors have been allowed one. It does seem a bit implausible that they could accomplish all that they have to do in a given week. For the standard five classes, at the very least.

"Take Charms for example," Hermione continued, "—four classes a week for the first years through fifth years, and at least two classes a week for the sixth and seventh years. That's a minimum of 24 classes a week for Professor Flitwick to handle all on his own. Most classes are an hour long, but some classes like Potions have a two hour long lab once a week for some years like fifth, sixth, and seventh years. It adds up to a lot though not so many that it would be totally impossible. It is possible but it would be a very strenuous work load. I can't even imagine being responsible for working out the scheduling for all of that to make sure nothing interferes with anything else."

"Dumbledore really asks a lot of his staff. Too much, honestly," Tom muttered. "When Professor Dippet was the headmaster, most of the main professors had an assistant teacher that took over about half their classes. For example, there would be two Potions lessons per week for a sixth year student, one lecture and one practical. Slughorn would give the lecture himself while often times his assistant took over the practical lesson to give Slughorn more time to attend to other duties."

"Really? Huh… I wonder why that was stopped."

"As I understand it, Dumbledore was one of the few Professors who always refused to take on an assistant, insisting on teaching all of his classes himself. I suppose when he took over as headmaster, he simply expected everyone else to do the same," Tom rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the book in front of him.

Hermione frowned deeply for several moments before huffing out a frustrated breath and shaking her head. She too turned her focus back on the books and the matter was dropped in favor of actually focusing on their task.

Over the next hour they came to discover five books they'd found that mentioned the disease that had spread through the small elven species over a thousand years ago that had resulted in the current status quo, and that all five of these books said nearly the exact same thing, word-for-word. They'd all been quoting a single source, and that source did not appear to be in their pile of books.

But some of the books they had did include different information so they set to putting together notes of everything they could find.

By mid-afternoon a little alarm spell went off, causing Hermione to jump and gasp before casting a tempus and exclaiming that she had to go.

"I promised to meet up with a couple people from my Ancient Runes class. We've been assigned to a group project and we were going to get started on it this afternoon!" she explained as she quickly began to gather up her notes and a couple books she was still in the process of going through.

"Ah — that's fine," Tom said simply. "I may stick around a bit longer, but I think I'm nearing a stopping point. Although I do think it's going to come down to getting a couple house elves to allow us to do some tests. I know Harry is friends with one that was set free and he'll be useful, but we'll also need a couple that are still bonded to a wizard — rather than to the castle. I'd say we use Kreacher, but he's bonded to Sirius and well…."

"Harry and Sirius aren't speaking right now," Hermione concluded with a solemn sigh and a nod of her head. "Harry's friend is a house elf named Dobby, but we could probably also convince Winky to help — she belonged to Mr. Crouch and was set free last fall. She's also working in the kitchens, but I don't think she's bonded to the school — she's free, like Dobby is."

Tom nodded. "Good. So we'll have two 'free' elves for sure. We can hopefully convince two of the school's bonded elves to help, and for the two elves who are bonded to wizards… well, there's Kreacher, so we'll still have to identify at least one more. But hopefully that'll be a reasonable enough sampling range for the tests I want to run."

Hermione got an excited gleam in her eye as she finished with her packing and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Ooo, I'm getting excited! This is the most progress I feel like I've made in ages. I've been trying so long to convince the school's elves the benefits of demanding their freedom and have gotten absolutely nowhere with that. But this might be a much better avenue. Thank you so much for agreeing to help me with this!"

Tom smiled softly. "It's my pleasure, Hermione. Anyway, I'll catch up with you in the common room later. You'd best be going if you're going to meet up with your runes group."

Hermione agreed and quickly departed the library, leaving Tom alone in the peace and quiet of the mostly deserted room, surrounded by books and parchment.

About fifteen minutes passed before Tom became aware of a presence approaching him. He pretended not to notice and kept on working while part of his mind kept track of just where the person was at all times. Finally, whoever it was apparently decided to approach because they rounded a stack of bookshelves and approached him from the side.

Tom glanced up and arched a single curious brow at the sight of Draco Malfoy walking directly towards his table with his head held high and his shoulders set straight, clearly making an effort to look calm and confident.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked as he came to stand beside Tom's table.

Tom's eyes narrowed slightly, but he felt more curious than anything else, so he nodded his head and gestured to the empty chair opposite him.

"It's Moore, right?" Draco asked clearly trying to keep his tone casual and indifferent. Tom suspected this was a legitimate effort for him, as he knew that scathing, superior, and judgmental was much more Draco's natural territory when dealing with others his own age.

Tom nodded. "Yes, though Thomlyn is fine. And your Malfoy right? Can I help you with something?"

"I —" Draco began but instantly hesitated, looking as if he were second-guessing himself already. "Is it true what people are saying? That you and Potter are…?"

"Dating?" Tom asked, smirking slightly in amusement.

"Yes," Draco confirmed hesitantly.

"It's true," Tom said with a simple nod.

"Huh…" Draco said, blinking somewhat in surprise. "I wouldn't have pegged Potter for a—" he trailed off before snapping his mouth shut and clearing his throat. "I mean… I thought he was seeing a girl last winter, so…"

Tom just shrugged and continued to pin Draco down with what he knew was probably a rather penetrating stare, though he had no mind to stop or soften it any. Draco seemed to shift uncomfortably beneath his gaze.

"Has Potter told you anything about… me?" Draco asked warily.

"You mean, has he told me that you've spent the last five years going out of your way to taunt, tease, bully, and humiliate him at every possible opportunity?" Tom asked in a light and casual tone that belied the seriousness of what it was he'd actually said.

Draco blinked and appeared to swallow before giving Tom a strained smile. "Ah… yes. That."

"Yes, he's mentioned you."

"Right. Well… that behavior is actually a big part of why I'm approaching you. You see, I've been doing some… soul searching this summer," Draco began in a rather forced and stunted way, as if the words hurt him to say. Tom just sat there and observed, feeling mildly amused by the blond's obvious discomfort.

"—it occurred to me that I'd been something of a prat to Potter. That… perhaps I didn't… give him a proper chance and…" Draco pressed on, but grimaced as if he were searching for the right sort of words to say and finding it difficult to demean himself in such a way. Finally he huffed out a frustrated breath, scowled into the distance of the library for a moment before looking back and meeting Tom's eyes. Judging by the flat glare he gave him, Tom suspected that the young Malfoy could see some of his amusement shining through in his eyes.

"Look… I'd like to offer Potter a truce. I would like to bury the hatchet, and not in each other's backs."

"Oh really? Huh. So why come to me?" Tom asked.

Draco heaved a somewhat frustrated sounding breath. "Because I know neither of Potter's other friends would tolerate me even speaking to them long enough to hear me out."

"Not to mention you'd probably rather not have to lower yourself to saying any of this to a blood-traitor or a mudblood," Tom drawled knowingly.

Draco's eyes widened but he kept his face stoney otherwise before giving a jerky conceding sort of shrug. "Perhaps…"

Tom smirked and chuckled before letting out a small sigh. "Look, Draco, I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to help you here. You're going to have to speak to Harry on your own. You'd probably be better off just being patient, though."

"How so?" Draco asked, pinning him with cautious eyes.

"Harry is not interested in putting up with anyone who is just playing nice to gain points. The lack of authenticity will be screaming in his face and he won't put up with it or take you seriously. Actions speak louder than words. Just try to continue acting less prattish and eventually he'll notice."

Draco huffed out an impatient and clearly annoyed sounding breath, scowling off into the distance of the library again. Finally he turned his gaze back on Tom and opened his mouth to say something but then his expression seemed to shift to one of confusion and he just stared at Tom for an overly long moment, his eyes narrowed and his brow slightly furrowed. His head tilted slightly to the side, eyeing Tom for a moment longer than Tom felt comfortable and he knew he was looking at the blond through narrowed suspicious eyes now.

"Something wrong?" Tom asked.

"I just…" Draco started before blinking and shaking his head. "It's nonsense. Forgive me, I just thought you looked a bit like someone for a moment."

Tom's eyes narrowed further and he felt his heart rate pick up slightly as wariness began to build in his chest.

"Oh?"

Draco was back to looking at Tom with an unrelenting analytical caution. He almost seemed to be arguing with himself. "I mean… you're not…" his eyes widened and Tom saw fear appear there for a first time and with that he knew he was fucked.

"No…" Draco whispered and his face paled. "Are you?" he whispered leaning in with wide stunned eyes.

"Am I… what?" Tom asked in a rather breathy and threatening tone that he instantly regretted.

Where there had been a war in Draco's features before, there was now nothing but horror and he leaned back in his seat as if he wanted to jump up and back away… or kneel and beg forgiveness.

Tom was instantly cussing up a storm in his mind, mostly aimed at himself.

"No — No —" Tom said firmly, raising a finger and holding it up with one hand while he pulled out his wand and cast a quick privacy ward around them.

"Y-you're —" Draco stuttered but Tom cut him off again.

"No, I'm not."

"But…"

"I'm not him. I'm not." he said firmly. "He's my father," Tom added quickly, figuring it was better than the alternative and suddenly finding himself quite grateful that he'd actually started constructing this alternate cover-story.

Draco's face shifted from horror to shock and his chest seemed to deflate somewhat, though he looked no less pale. "Father?" he whispered in shock. "He… he had a —" Draco trailed off and grimaced.

Tom rolled his eyes though he could hardly blame Draco for finding the notion of Lord Voldemort procreating as a rather disturbing one.

"Yes, he did," Tom said dryly. "Though I have to say you're the first person whose looked at me and actually seen a resemblance."

"Oh… well, I mean, it's certainly not obvious," Draco added quickly.

"Obvious enough that the first time you spend even a few minutes in my company, you notice," Tom muttered, feeling irritation and confusion rise in his chest.

"It was just this look you were giving me. I never would have even noticed anything, but when… when I saw him last, he gave me that same look and it had really stuck with me at the time," Draco said in a desperately placating tone.

Tom groaned inwardly. He realized now he'd made a huge mistake. Sure, he'd made sure that no one would remember what Tom Riddle had actually looked like in his youth through the Fidelius Charm, and that spell had clearly worked, however it didn't change the fact that Tom, in his youth, and Tom as the Dark Lord Voldemort had still been the same person. As Voldemort his features had morphed into something otherworldly and inhuman, but the base features had remained the same. The bone structure, shape of his jaw, and shape of his eyes and brows had never really changed all that drastically. The resemblance was undeniably still there. Harry had even said as much when he'd first seen Tom with his Voldemort transfiguration on — noting that Tom still 'looked like himself' somewhat.

For anyone who had come into close contact with Voldemort recently, it wasn't all that unreasonable that they might pick up on the similarities as well.

Suddenly a look of sudden understanding dawned in Draco's eyes and he gasped slightly. "Bloody hell… does Potter know?" he whispered.

Tom sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before returning his gaze to Draco. "Yes," he hissed back. "It's how we met. It's why we met."

Draco looked surprised by this answer — no doubt he had probably been expecting that Tom was secretly hiding his identify from Harry or something along those lines.

"Really? And he's okay with — I mean, are you two really dating, or is this some sort of…?" he trailed off, clearly unsure what he was even asking about.

"We really are dating," Tom said tiredly, still internally cussing himself out for not foreseeing this possibility. He wondered suddenly if all those deeply intent stares he'd been getting from Severus were related to this very same thing. Did Severus see the resemblance as well? And if he did, Did Tom need to worry about others recognizing him as well?

"So you and Potter really are dating, even though he knows—?" Draco asked, his face scrunching up slightly with surprise.

Tom huffed out a breath knowing that he was going to have to follow this through and take it seriously. With this new entirely unwanted development he was going to have to take the threat of being recognized far more seriously than before.

Where before, the story of being Voldemort's son had been planned as a potential avenue to retain old connections and control, it was now going to have to serve as a backup story to save his own arse in any troublesome instances where he was recognized, even though he'd thought he'd already protected himself from that possibility.

Committing himself to having to follow through on this, Tom returned his focus onto Draco.

"Back at the start of the summer, right after Hogwarts let out in mid-June, my… father sent me to speak to Harry specifically because I have no loyalties to the Dark Lord and would be less threatening. He needed someone who was neutral, because Harry would never trust someone who served Voldemort, so he couldn't send a Death Eater. Plus, they probably wouldn't have made it anywhere within fifty feet of Harry's home anyway. He also needed someone who he actually trusted with certain… sensitive details. I may not have any desire to pledge my loyalty or service to him or his cause, but he's still my blood. We have… an understanding. So he approached me, and after some convincing, I agreed," Tom said, having already fleshed out some ideas to the cover-story in his mind weeks ago.

"Merlin…" Draco whispered, appearing to be in a state of mild shock. "The Dark Lord has a son," he went on, gaping somewhat. "How is it that no one knows this? I mean… does anyone know about you?"

"My mother went into hiding as soon as she realized she was pregnant. She even hid the pregnancy from my father. Then she went and died in childbirth, so literally no one knew who I was. I was twelve before I discovered who my real father was."

"Bloody hell," Draco said in a hushed awe, still looking utterly dumbstruck. He finally seemed to be pulling himself together and swallowed thickly. "How did you find out?"

"Well… being a parselmouth set off some alarm bells for one," he said with a tired shrug. Draco's eyes widened and he silently mouthed the words 'parselmouth' with a look of awe on his face. He leaned forward with piqued interest. Tom nearly snorted but pressed on.

"Then I started looking into genealogy spells until I found one that actually worked and turned up the names of my parents. Then I did some more research because Lord Voldemort is not my father's real name, so the name that the spell returned was just… you know, a normal name. And I'm sure you can imagine that the Dark Lord had gone to extensive lengths to erase any evidence of his past and who he used to be. It took a while before I found anything that actually connected the name I found with Lord Voldemort — but I did eventually find it."

Draco nodded his head in understanding, a serious and yet also deeply fascinated look on his face.

"So when did the Dark Lord find out about you?" Draco asked.

"After the graveyard resurrection," Tom whispered, surreptitiously looking around the library, feeling exceedingly wary of talking about this out in the open, even with the privacy ward. "I saw the reports in the papers about Harry and Dumbledore claiming that Voldemort had returned. I sought him out then — managed to find him pretty quickly. I'm not even entirely sure why I did it. I don't buy into most of what he once fought for… I've never had any intention or desire to join him or anything like that. It's just…" Tom shrugged, "he's my father. I wanted to find him. I needed to, I suppose."

"Wow…" Draco whispered, looking oddly awestruck. Tom wasn't even sure what to make of that.

"So… how did you and Potter end up…?" Draco asked, looking especially bewildered by that.

"Dating?" Tom asked with a smirk and Draco nodded. Tom shrugged again. "Honestly, it was the last thing I ever would have expected to happen. I certainly didn't go to Harry planning to woo him or something. I didn't even go there planning to try and befriend him. I was just going to deliver the message and tell him what I'd seen. Give him my opinion on the authenticity of my father's… change in attitude. But Harry and I got to talking and… it was just so easy to talk to him. I had to go back and forth several times to play message delivery boy, and every time Harry and I would end up talking.

"One time we talked so long he missed his meal so I offered to treat him to dinner at a local muggle restaurant. I made the offer before even thinking through the whole thing. As soon as I had, I instantly assumed he'd refuse, but in the end he chose to trust me and so we went out to eat. It was fun. We just sort of… clicked. Later I ran into some trouble with something and went to Harry and he helped me. Later still I came across something I thought would help Harry with something else, and he was grateful for that. And later still Harry came to me with a particularly complicated problem and I agreed to help him. That project took several weeks of work where he came to visit me every day while we worked on things. We just sort of grew closer and closer and things just naturally transitioned into something romantic. Neither of us ever expected it or planned on it. And our relationship is honestly and truly nothing to do with my father or his plans… though he certainly doesn't mind that it happened. He's quite thrilled honestly," Tom said rolling his eyes dramatically as if this thought was an annoying one to him.

"I imagine he is," Draco smirked, nodding his head. "He told me that he wanted to woo Potter to his side. That he's trying to turn him against Dumbledore."

Tom snorted. "It didn't exactly take much to turn Harry against Dumbledore. The truth did that easily enough. That part is solid and done. Expecting Harry to join the Dark is a lost cause, though, and I've told my father as much. But he's mostly satisfied knowing Harry wants nothing to do with playing along with Dumbledore's machinations any longer. He's also pleased that I'm here to keep an eye out for any threats to Harry's safety. He didn't want Harry coming back to Hogwarts at all and being so vulnerable to whatever insanity Dumbledore might try next, without someone to watch Harry's back. But when I was given the opportunity to transfer to Hogwarts, it sort of benefited all of us, so I agreed."

"Cor, this is mental…" Draco whispered. A look flashed across his eyes and he perked up even more an instant later. "Does this mean that you can help me with Potter? The Dark Lord ordered me to —"

"I know what he ordered you to do," Tom cut him off, rolling his eyes slightly. "And so does Harry, for that matter."

Malfoy's eyes widened.

"Harry knows that you were ordered to be more well behaved around him - and honestly this probably works against you to some extent. It means that he'll take anything you do and chalk it up to you being ordered to do it, rather than it being a sincere effort to be less of a prat. I think at this point, he just expects you to break after a while and slip back into your old habits. The only way you're actually going to get anywhere with Harry is if you can keep it up long-term, and with more people than just him. If you act one way around him, but then go around calling people mudbloods and halfbreeds when he's not around, then he's not going to take you seriously at all and assume you're just fake. Will I help convince him otherwise? No. I'm not on your side, Draco. And I'm not on my father's side either. Honestly, if I'm on anyone's side, it's Harry's side. You have to convince me that you're serious about being less of a prat just as much as you need to convince Harry."

Draco sank back down into his chair a bit giving Tom a surprisingly thoughtful look before nodding his head as if he'd just made up his mind on something.

"Alright. I'll take that challenge."

Tom found himself smirking somewhat fondly. He wasn't even sure where this was going to go, but he did find he was curious to see where it went. Even if Tom now found himself in a potentially precarious position with his cover story. He supposed it was probably good that he'd come to realize this flaw in his plans now and with Draco, rather than someone considerably more dangerous. Now he'd be more vigilant about letting people who got close enough to Voldemort to clearly remember his features, also getting close enough to Thomlyn Moore to potentially spot the similarities.

It wasn't like the similarities were all that blatant or obvious, either. Draco was just a very observant person. He had a keen eye and Tom had appreciated that about him.

"Okay," Tom nodded his head slowly at Draco. "But I need your word that what we discussed here will go no further than this. No one can know about me, got it?"

"I — Of course," Draco said quickly. He hesitated then, frowning. "Who else knows already? Do Potter's friends realize —?"

"No. None of them know who I really am. Harry and I constructed a cover story. He didn't think his friends were likely to understand his willingness to associate with the son of the man who murdered his parents, let alone date the son of the man who murdered his parents. He basically expected anyone who knew the full story to assume I had him under a spell or a love potion or something."

"And you don't?"

Tom rolled his eyes. "No. No, I don't."

"So no one else knows who you really are?"

Tom heaved a sigh. "Severus knows. —er, Snape. But he doesn't know any of the details. He just knows I'm Voldemort's son."

Draco shuddered at Tom's use of the Dark Lord's name but didn't look nearly as angry and disgusted that Tom was doing it as he might if Harry had been the one to do it. A light of sudden understanding flashed in his eyes a moment later, as well. "That's why he keeps staring at you all the time, and why he called you out for that demonstration the first day of class! He was testing you!"

Tom snorted derisively. "Stupid stubborn git," he muttered.

"Is he completely mental, though?! Challenging the Dark Lord's son in a classroom full of students? Worst case scenario, he humiliates you, making you angry and potentially pissing off the Dark Lord. Best case, he loses to you and humiliates himself in front of the class. I don't know what he was thinking," Draco said shaking his head in bewilderment.

"I'm not entirely sure what he thinks about me either. Perhaps he didn't entirely believe I really was the Dark Lord's son, after being sorted into Gryffindor and all."

"Merlin, that's right," Draco said, suddenly eyeing Tom's cloak and tie. "But I doubt he's questioning it now, even with that. Your performance in class that first day was brilliant." Draco said, a tinge of awe in his voice. "The way you deflected his spells — the way you disarmed him there at the end. It makes a lot more sense now that I know who your father is…"

Tom shrugged somewhat dismissively but didn't say anything.

"Did he train you?"Draco asked suddenly in an excited hush as he leaned in enthusiastically.

"My father?"

Draco nodded.

"A bit…" Tom hedged, unsure if it was a good idea to include something like that as part of his story.

"Merlin… that had to have been amazing… and terrifying," he added, his eyes wide.

"He and I have a… unique relationship."

Draco hummed thoughtfully, nodding his head slowly. "The Dark Lord told me not to trust Severus… I'm not sure what to think about that."

"I don't entirely trust him either," Tom muttered. "But the Dark Lord believes he's secured Snape's loyalty over Dumbledore — for now at least. I still wish he hadn't told the man about me, but there's nothing I can do about it now."

"Severus is really observant. He probably would have noticed the resemblance eventually anyway," Draco said thoughtfully.

Tom winced, once again cursing his idiocy for his monumental oversight.

"Is… is the resemblance really that obvious?" Tom asked, suddenly feeling outrageously self-conscious.

"Obvious? Oh no. Not at all," Draco said quickly with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Like I said, I only noticed it when you smirked a certain way. When he did it he just looked so… human. It looked so strange on his face that the image of it really stuck with me, that's all. You honestly don't look much like him — well, not the obvious stuff. The whole bald white skin, scales, and the absent nose. That's what people really remember when they think of him. The more subtle details don't stick in people's minds because they're too terrified to really look at him. They wouldn't dare. I just happened to get rather close to him, and it was somewhat recently. Your face shape and jawline are similar to his, and your eyes are the same shape — just different colors, obviously. I mean, if you look closely enough at him to see the human beneath the power, you might be able to tell that the two of you are definitely related, but like I said - few would do that."

Tom nodded thoughtfully, hoping he really could avoid any incidences like this happening in the future. It was a little late to start over with a new face now, so he just had to make due with what he had and hope for the best.

Worst case scenario, he had this cover-story to fall back on. It was honestly looking pretty effective. He had to remind himself not to let temptation get the better of him as that was a real danger given his sometimes lacking self-control. But aside from the allure of holding onto power and influence, this story did provide him with a reasonable way out should anyone think to accuse him of being Voldemort.

It had certainly worked with Draco.

"Well, I ought to be heading back to the Gryffindor common room," Tom said as he began to gather up his things.

"I still can't get over that! You're a Gryffindor! Merlin, how the bloody hell did the Dark Lord's son end up in Gryffindor? You said you were a parselmouth, right? How is it that you're not in Slytherin?"

Tom chuckled. "Honestly, I wonder that myself sometimes… I really was expecting to end up in Slytherin, and yes I really am a parselmouth. The hat offered to put me in Slytherin, but it suggested I stick with Harry. It made me choose between going into Slytherin and facing tremendous temptation, or following Harry into Gryffindor. Seeing as how the whole reason I came here in the first place was to keep an eye on Harry, it seemed like the better idea anyway."

"You did seem to be under there for quite a while," Draco said eyeing him speculatively. "I understand your reasoning, but I can't imagine anyone actually choosing Gryffindor over Slytherin", he sneered and Tom chuckled and shrugged. Draco paused then, frowning slightly. "What do you suppose the Hat meant by 'tremendous temptation'?"

"Ah, well that's probably related to my desire to not follow in my father's footsteps," Tom said with a sigh. "I don't want anything to do with his war, or his Death Eaters… I want to be judged for who I am, not who my father is. At the same time… I am very ambitious. I do have political aspirations. It would be very easy to take advantage of his connections and those loyal to him to build myself up, but I've sort of committed myself to not doing that. It would just be a lot harder to stick to that conviction if I were surrounded by people in awe of who my father is."

"Hmmm…" Draco hummed in understanding, nodding his head. "I can see that. I've always aspired to be like my father, but I'm finding now that the people who treated me with respect did so only because of my father and his position. Now that he's… out of favor, it's as if I've lost so much of what I thought I'd earned…" he trailed off, frowning almost sadly, though a tinge of frustration was clearly there as well.

"I've noticed how much it bothers you that Slughorn likes to pretend that you're invisible," Tom commented, as it was something he had observed over the last week.

Draco scowled and sneered. "Before all of this, he would have been licking my boots just as much as he is with Potter. I would be the one being invited to those bloody lunches and parties of his. Not Potter," he spat petulantly.

"At least father managed to get Lucius out," Tom said with a sigh. "It really bothered him that your father ended up in there."

Draco's expression shifted instantly to one of surprise and interest. "Really?"

"He's changed a lot since June."

"He said that Dumbledore had poisoned him or something. That in healing the poison he had healed his mind? What does that even mean?"

"Well you said that you'd seen him, right? Did he seem different to you?" Tom asked curiously.

"Oh absolutely," Draco said nodding quickly. "It was almost… strange. But sort of amazing. And I could feel his power. It was intoxicating. I'd felt it a bit in the past when I'd been nearby during meetings, but it wasn't as intense then… well, it was more terrible I suppose, but before this summer he just felt dangerous and horrible. When I saw him this summer it felt amazing. Like, it made me feel excited. I have to admit that I was beginning to feel incredibly wary of the idea that Father expected me to take the Dark Mark when I come of age, but now that the Dark Lord has healed his mind, or whatever it is he's done… I find I'm not nearly so… I almost think I want to now… Not that I didn't want to before!" he added quickly.

Tom found himself clenching his teeth and trying to hold his expression as still and blank as possible. Not because he was displeased by anything that Draco had said — but perhaps because of the opposite, and that unsettled him. He wasn't sure what to think or feel about that.

The allure of commanding a group towards a common goal was still there. He felt it often, but he didn't trust himself not to get lost in it again. It was why he'd chosen to follow Harry into Gryffindor.

Tom realized suddenly that if he'd allowed himself to go into Slytherin he probably would have let this cover-story slip all on his own, just like he did with Snape. He probably would have let Draco find out about his supposed status as the Dark Lord's son, and even encouraged him to inform a select group that he trusted. The way Draco was looking at him with excited reverence made him realize this. This feeling… It was like that in the beginning. Before he went mad and started to enjoy their fear. Before he began to go out of his way to make sure they were all terrified of him.

The power — the respect — the admiration…

"I need to go," Tom said suddenly and began to gather up the notes and books he hadn't already stuffed into his bag.

Draco looked startled and watched as Tom finished stuffing the last thing into his bag, stood, and slung the bag over his shoulder.

"Are… are we okay?" Draco asked hesitantly, looking mildly worried.

"Yes, Draco. We're fine," Tom said in a placating tone. "And… I will give you a chance, and honestly, I think even Harry is open minded enough to easily agree to a truce, if not going so far as to start to like you. Just… just prove you're capable of treating other people like human beings — all other people — without it looking like the idea makes you feel the need to throw up. Do this consistently and he'll take note. And finally — don't tell anyone about me. That's all. I really do need to be going."

"I — okay. Thank you," Draco said standing as well. As Tom went to move past him, Draco even bowed his head a small bit and Tom felt the bottom of his stomach drop out. He found himself speeding up his pace and he was soon climbing the Grand Staircase towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

After giving the password and climbing through the portrait hole Tom's eyes sought out Harry and he heaved a relieved breath when he found him there, sitting on one of the couches near the large fireplace. He was reading a book on Occlumency that Tom had given him and looked exceedingly bored. He looked up as Tom approached and smiled widely upon seeing him.

Tom felt his chest lighten at the sight of that smile alone, though now he was dreading having to tell Harry about this latest fuck-up. His dread must have shown on his face because Harry's smile dimmed and he looked at Tom worriedly as he came over and sank down onto the couch beside Harry and heaved a very heavy sigh.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Apparently I failed to take something into account earlier on and it's just come to bite me in the arse," Tom grumbled.

"What now?" Harry asked with a sigh.

Tom looked over and frowned, feeling a rush of guilt wash over him. Would there ever be a time when he wasn't complicating Harry's life? Harry just wanted something stable and semi-predictable for a while and even now that Tom was no longer out of his mind and trying to do everything in his power to kill Harry, he still managed to throw a wrench into Harry's day-to-day life.

He huffed out a breath, shaking his head and trying to push the guilt away for now. He pulled out his wand and cast an area privacy charm around them causing the din of the rest of the room to drown away a bit as well as preventing anyone else in the room from hearing them.

"It would appear that I was a bit narrow sighted in my precautions regarding my appearance and being recognized," Tom muttered, speaking low even with the ward up.

Harry's eyes widened and his face slackened with instant anxiety. "Shite! What happened?"

"I made sure no one who knew what Tom Riddle looked like would be able to remember it, and that's worked fine. What I failed to consider is that there are still people who know what Voldemort looks like, and Voldemort and Tom Riddle are still technically the same person. Same bone structure, same general shape of things… just with changes to body fat, some locations of cartilage, the absence of a nose… "

"Are you saying someone recognized you as looking like Voldemort?!" Harry asked sounding incredulous.

"Draco Malfoy," Tom heaved a semi-frustrated sigh and Harry gaped at him. "Apparently I smirked in some fashion that he recognized from when I spoke to him at Malfoy Manor. He said that the smirk had really stuck with him at the time because it looked oddly human and had been strange on The Dark Lord's face. When I did it in this form, it was just enough of a similarity that it still fired off some irritating little neuron in his brain, connecting the two dots."

Harry's face paled and a look of horror flashed across his face. "Wait - so he knows that you're—?"

"No," Tom said shaking his head. "I ended up throwing him off of the notion that I'm the Dark Lord with that cover-story about being the Dark Lord's son."

"Wait - okay… so he doesn't think you're Voldemort, but he does think that you're Voldemort's son. Bloody hell," Harry groaned dramatically, letting his face fall into his hands. "This is really getting out of hand, Tom! How many people now think that you're Voldemort's son?"

"Just three," Tom said grimacing. "Pettigrew — and he can't leave the ward boundary of my cottage without transforming into a rat — Severus, and now Draco as well."

"Draco bloody Malfoy," Harry moaned running a hand through his unruly mop. "How the heck did you end up talking with Mafoy, anyway? I thought you were with Hermione in the library?"

"We were, but Hermione had some study group for Ancient Runes to go to and left a short while ago. I remained behind to finish up what I was working on and that's when Draco approached me."

"What did he want? Did he go there to confront you about his suspicions or what?"

"No, he didn't have any suspicions until we talked, actually. No, he approached me to try and get a feel for how open you would be to agree to a truce and ask what I thought could be done to smooth things over between the two of you."

Harry looked bewildered. "Why did he ask you that?"

"Because he'd heard that you and I were dating, so he figured I might know you well enough to answer, and the only two other people he could think of to ask were Ron and Hermione and I'm sure you can imagine that approaching either of them wouldn't work out so well for him."

Harry snorted and nodded.

"I don't even remember what I was saying to him… I think I'd just told him that actions speak louder than words and he'd have to pull of a better attitude consistently, over a long period of time, before you'd buy into his changes. At some point in there I apparently made a face that reminded him of the Dark Lord… which is somewhat upsetting. But I think it was a normal face for me now, and an odd face for me as Voldemort, which is why it stuck with him before. I can see that happening."

Harry hummed and nodded. "Yeah… you've definitely pulled some expressions that looked especially misplaced on your Dark Lord face the couple times I've seen you transformed. Merlin though… if Malfoy managed to recognize you from just that, then—"

"Yes… believe me, I've been mulling over the same concern," Tom said with a groan. "If Draco could recognize me, then anyone who finds themselves in a position to get a good look at Lord Voldemort could potentially do the same. I suppose it's good that I discovered this problem with Draco Malfoy and not with someone more dangerous. And now I can be more vigilant in who I allow to see me as Voldemort, and to try and make sure that they don't see me as Thomlyn Moore enough to make any connection."

"What about Dumbledore?" Harry asked with a mild panic. "He certainly knows what Voldemort looks like."

"He hasn't made any connection yet, though," Tom said with a shrug. "And he's only ever seen me as the sneering monstrous Dark Lord. The reason that Draco saw any resemblance at all was because he's seen me much more recently. Oh, and there was one more thing —"

"Ugh… what now?"

"Nothing bad," Tom said quickly with a wave of his hand. "No, rather, it looks like telling Snape the 'child of the Dark Lord' line mightn't have been such a stupid idea. I mean… well, it was still a stupid idea for the reason I had at the time, but it might have been necessary eventually anyway."

Harry frowned. "How so?"

"Draco said that he thought Severus would have noticed the resemblance eventually as well, and I think he may have a point. And if that had happened, he might have assumed, as Draco did, that I wasVoldemort in disguise, and who knows what he would have done at that point. Draco's reaction also showed me that the story about being Voldemort's son is an effective one. His demeanor shifted instantly when he went from thinking I was Voldemort to the alternative."

"I imagine it would," Harry said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"In any case, I'm marginally relieved that I came up with the cover story now, just so I have something to fall back on in any instances where someone makes the connection between my appearance and Voldemort's."

Harry sighed, frowned, and nodded. "Yeah. I guess so too. I suppose it's better than having nothing to fall back on at all. It still seems mental to tell people that you're Voldemort's son."

"Better than telling people that I'm Voldemort," Tom drawled and Harry snorted.

— — — —

AN: Woo - I updated. Literally one year from the last major update…. yup. Yup, I'm awful. Sorry. This last year has been… shitty.

Anyway, I got a bit further on this one. I also went through and re-read the whole fic and fixed things up as I went. So I've updated every chapter throughout the whole story with minor changes. Nothing significant, and nothing that really affects the story or plot - mostly grammar, typo, and fixing paragraphs that didn't make sense or had way too many fucking commas, cuz apparently I go way overboard with commas when I'm not paying attention.

I might get a bit more written on it in the coming weeks or I must just pop back over to Again and Again and poke at that one a bit more. Dunno how long it'll be before any more updates are posted, but just know I've not given up on any of these guys - it's just slow going.