Each child is assigned a monster upon their birth. In most cases, these monsters stay with them until they reach adulthood; hiding under their beds and in their closets. In some cases, the monsters stay longer. Then there's the rare cases, like the one currently waiting on his desk, where a child gets re-assigned more than once.

The case that he is currently trying to deal with is a once in a lifetime rarity; there's no monsters left to assign the child. Except him. He should not have to deal with this, he hasn't been out on the field in years. He should not even be an option as he's the chief operating officer in the British department. If it weren't for the higher-ups quite literally breathing down his neck, he would not even consider doing it; but the protocol says that he can't leave any children under 15 monster-less and he's hoping to get a promotion by the end of the year.

It takes surprisingly little time to appoint someone to take care of the assignments while he's gone, and he can't help but be frustrated with how meaningless his job suddenly seems. Perhaps getting out in the field will be good for him; he hasn't practiced being scary on a human in a long while. He could probably do without human culture though.

Too many of his monsters have taken to wear clown costumes to keep the children scared. It's embarrassing.

As the monster closest related to Death, he will not have to use any such tricks, which is good for his sense of pride if nothing else.

The bed that he finds himself under is a horribly rickety iron bed, and while the floor seems clean enough he can't help but feel like the grime is sinking into his skin. For any other monster that would only been part of the allure, but he has never been much like any other monster. There's a reason that he's the chief operating officer and they're not, though cleanliness unlikely play any part in it.

He can't see much else of the room in the darkness, but it's okay. He can sense that the only child in the near vicinity is on top of the bed, and that's all that matters. The child does not seem to be close to sleep though, which makes his job slightly harder. He can either wait - and he does not have the patience for that - or he can try his chances now.

Or the child can take his options away by joining him underneath the bed.

Hadrian blinks, which is quite a feat as he has a lot more eyes than eyelids. Tom Riddle, his assigned child, is sitting underneath the bed. Staring. At him. He does not know what protocol says about this - he doesn't think that there's any protocol for this. He has to write some guidelines for it; assuming he can figure out what to do.

"You look a lot scarier than the other monsters." Tom says, and it sounds more like an observation than anything else. Hadrian blinks again, slower this time. He knows that his eyes blink out of sync but Tom gives no visible reaction except for trying to follow the pattern.

"Thanks." Hadrian answers at last, his voice dry as if his lungs were full of dust and ashes. Sometimes it even surprises him that he doesn't cough after talking.

"I'm not scared though." Tom continues, which is quite a feat for an eleven year old child to say.

"You're very brave." Hadrian can't help but feel impressed. He has scared grown men to the degree that they fainted upon seeing him, but this boy is casually having a conversation with him as if he weren't a monster made of nightmares and death.

"I wish." Tom mutters, and the words feels horribly wrong coming out of a child's mouth. Hadrian feel his sense of protectiveness tug at his heartstrings, but he pushes it back down as it's not proper monster behaviour. Or at least he tries to tell himself that he does it, and that that is the reason for it. For a monster, he's very bad at pretending - though maybe that's a contradiction. What use does a monster have of pretending?

"There are many forms of bravery." he says awkwardly, not sure how to have a conversation with someone who doesn't fear him. Even his best monsters refuse to look him in the eyes; he is always impressed by their efforts. He can't quite tell where his eyes begin or stop sometimes.

"I'm not brave in the way that matters." Tom corrects, like an obedient child who has been berated by a teacher. Hadrian can't help but dislike it; both the feel of surrender in Tom's words and the image of obedience. An obedient child would not try to befriend the monster underneath their bed.

"Let me be the judge of that." Hadrian ends up saying as he starts making his way out from underneath the bed. There's truly no point in hiding from someone that does not mind his company, and there's not a lot of space underneath the bed to begin with.

It does take awhile before he's completely out; his body consists of eyes with green irises and solid yet drifting black smoke that he wears like a cloak. There are multiple sets of mouths with sharp teeth in between the eyes on what is his torso, but they do not open unless he has to suck someone's soul. Tentacles of something not quite smoke hide underneath the cover of his cloak together with his skeleton body. What he calls skin is nothing but a thin cover of smoke, dense enough for the bones to not shine through. He does have organs somewhere within, but he does not care for how they work. It is doubtful if they have any real function anyway - monsters are made to be immortal for as long as there are children left for them, and for as long as nightmares exist. Organs are not necessary then.

His face might be the least terrifying aspect; defined cheekbones are hidden underneath the eyes and the one mouth he does use has a pair of plump blood-red lips that stand out in the darkness. He has some sort of hair as well, but it drifts just as much as his body and he never seems to be able to tame it.

Tom follows him out from underneath the bed, although it takes a while. Hadrian has time to inspect the room while he waits and it's nothing impressive. Besides the bed, there's also an old wardrobe and a hard wooden chair. He puts down Tom's living conditions to either poor or orphan; the latter likely is not helped by the former. There are too many poor orphanages in England during this time.

"You are breathtaking." Tom breaks the silence, and Hadrian can't help but be startled by the compliment. Not because he doesn't get them; even monsters flatter each other, but because the eleven year old child that he was supposed to scare finds him breathtaking. Something tugs at his heartstrings again, and this time he doesn't pretend to push it down.

"I believe you're the first to say that." he responds, because he's not quite sure what else to say. He does not take to compliments well most of the time; how could he when he sees the monster that frighten men to death whenever he looks in the mirror? There's no beauty to be found in being scary - not for him. He knows that other monsters thinks that being scary is all the beauty that they need; which is saying something as some of the monsters are nothing more but inanimate things given life.

Then the door opens and their conversation is cut short.

Hadrian is seething. How dare that woman touch his child?! No one is allowed to scare Tom but him, and humans should not scare children to begin with. Yet Hadrian - the monster - finds himself being the one to give Tom comfort after Mrs Cole left.

He regrets that he retreated back to underneath the bed when the door opened, and he regrets more that he obeyed the hard glare Tom sent him and stayed there. He had started to drift out in the room to put a stop to her, but Tom had not wished for him to do so. Hadrian decides to demand why later, but right now he needs to make sure that Tom is okay.

It settles his angers some when he swears to protect Tom for as long that his child needs him, especially from vile women.

Mrs Cole comes again the next night. Hadrian does nothing, and comforts Tom afterwards.

He moves all the furniture in Mrs Cole's office ten centimeters to the left after Tom falls asleep. It is childish and gives no real satisfaction, but it is still better than doing nothing.

The line is crossed when Mrs Cole enters Tom's room for the third night in a row. Hadrian believes in second, even third chances, but it's third time lucky that goes; or third time unlucky in this case.

He doesn't have time to think before he's out from under the bed, brutally murdering Mrs Cole as Tom watches.

There's awe in Tom's eyes afterwards, and respect, but no fear. Hadrian shivers, and he doesn't know why.

Police are walking in and out of Tom's room. Hadrian watches on from under the bed as they interrogate his child about the murder and then suddenly the police is gone and a man with ginger hair and a purple suit is introducing himself to Tom. Hadrian can't keep himself from drifting out in the room at the word professor. It's only at the mention of Hogwarts that he stops; the magical world is no secret for monsters.

"Are you taking me to the asylum, sir? I'm not crazy! I did not murder Mrs Cole!"

"I'm a professor at a school. I don't believe that you killed the matron, my boy, not intentionally."

Hadrian started to drift out once more, faster this time. Not intentionally? He would not have some barmy professor blame his child for a crime that he committed!

"I haven't applied to any school, sir." Tom answers, thankfully focusing on the part that does not condemn him as a murderer. Hadrian drifts out nonetheless, giving Tom a comforting embrace with his smoke. He can feel the professor - Dumbledore, he believes the name was - eyeing him, but does not come out fully.

"I believe your family must have put your name down. There's sadly no records left." Dumbledore explains kindly. Both Tom and Hadrian mistrusts him; it's very suspicious that a man from a school comes the day after Mrs Cole were murdered.

"What kind of school is Hogwarts?" Tom asks, obviously suspicious and impatient enough to forego the sir this time. Dumbledore is still eyeing the smoke that is Hadrian.

"Hogwarts is a school for magic." Dumbledore reveals. Hadrian can sense Tom's excitement, but his child gives no visible sign of emotion. He feels a sense of pride at Tom's cleverness; Dumbledore seems like the sort of man you should not be vulnerable in front of.

"Prove it." Tom demands, and Hadrian wants to laugh. The child believes in monsters but not magic; it's depressing beyond words. Then Dumbledore puts Tom's wardrobe on fire and Hadrian is out completely from under the bed before the situation fully registers in his mind.

"A monster that shows himself?" Dumbledore mumbles, fascinated. The fire flickers out in the background; the wardrobe turns out to be undamaged. Hadrian can't help but feel foolish until he feels Tom take his hand and entwine their fingers. He hugs Tom's hand to give comfort.

"I do a lot more than just show myself." Hadrian answers.

"Mrs Cole." Dumbledore says, a hint of dawning realisation in his voice as he nods understandingly. Hadrian can't help but feel slightly disgusted by the man.

"Give Tom his letter and leave." he demands, eager to get the meeting over with. He still finds it suspicious that Dumbledore came the day after the murder.

"Hogwarts has wards against monsters." Dumbledore warns, and Hadrian laughs. It starts with only coming from his blood-red lips but then the sharp-toothed mouths on his torso open to give eerie laughters of their own. It's chilling and lesser men would have run away; he did not even know that his other mouths could laugh. Tom hugs his hand harder, but Dumbledore only waits him out with a patient smile. Hadrian wants to kill the man, a foreign emotion as Dumbledore has yet to prove himself as a threat to Tom.

"Your wards do nothing but tickle." Hadrian finally answers as the laughter slowly dies out in differing rhythms. The mouth over the small of his back is the last one to stop. Dumbledore frowns at his revelation but says nothing more about it.

"I will not leave Tom's side." Hadrian promises, when the silence grows too awkward for him.

"Hadrian protects me." Tom chimes in. Dumbledore looks startled, but still says nothing.

"The letter?" Hadrian prompts. The meeting has dragged out, and he doubt the police is actually done investigating the murder scene.

"I'll see you at Hogwarts, Tom, Hadrian." Dumbledore says at last. He hands Tom a letter and a bag with coins.

Hadrian glares after Dumbledore until there's no ginger hair or purple suit left to see.

Diagon Alley is not very interesting in Hadrian's opinion. He's forced to hide in Tom's shadow to not create a panic, and there's only so much observation that he can whisper in Tom's ear.

Then they enter the wand shop and Hadrian finds himself face to face with someone he had never thought he'd see again.

"Garrick." he greets, gracefully leaving Tom's shadow to take full shape.

"Hadrian, Mr Riddle." Garrick greets, unblinking as always. The wandmaker had been just as strange as a child; Hadrian has met him only once, and in passing at that, but it was not an encounter that one could forget.

"How do you know my name, sir?" Tom asks before Hadrian could say anything more. Garrick only smiles and spells a roll of measure tape and a quill to take down Tom's measurements.

"Let's get the two of you a wand." Garrick exclaims at last, and Hadrian belatedly realise that he has been measured as well. He does not point out that it's useless to measure a shapeshifter, but a laughter is bubbling in his throat and his lips twitches.

"Monsters don't have the same magic; are you sure I can make use of one of your wands?" Hadrian asks as he takes the offered wand. Tom is on his third beside him; Garrick was quicker to sort through the wands for his child. It's not surprising.

"Give it a wave." is all Garrick answers, and Hadrian obeys. Something explodes, but it's not far from the reaction that Tom gets from the ill-fitting wands, so it's not a sure sign of anything.

Countless of wands later Garrick's smile threatens to split his face in half. Hadrian is amused, and more so at Tom's impatience. Then suddenly two wands are thrusted into their faces; one of holly and one of yew. Hadrian and Tom reaches for them at the same time, and the resulting light in the shop is blinding. Hadrian fears that he'll flicker out of existence for only a moment, then the light dies down.

"11" holly and 13½" yew, phoenix feather cores. Only two feathers that I got from that particular phoenix. I believe the two of you will do marvellous things together, and great things on your own. That'll be 13 galleons."

"That's an odd price." Hadrian remarks as Tom pays. Garrick only smiles.

The Hogwarts Express looks rather impressive, Hadrian has to admit. He can do without the humans staring at him though. He has Tom's hand in his, and holds Tom's trunk with the other. He refuses to hide at Hogwarts as he did in Diagon Alley, and the platform seems as a good place to start but he feels anxious at the stares. He knows that his presence will give Tom unwanted attention, but he also knows that Tom feels safer with him there.

"We should board the train." Hadrian says at last, and leads the way through the crowd. No one dares to get in his way, and he sees quite a few children look towards Tom with respect. Tom notices as well, and the smile on his lips is cold.

Hogwarts castle makes for an even more impressive sight than the train did. Hadrian feels an overwhelming sense of fondness deep inside his heart; he remembers a time when Hogwarts was only a dream that four young humans had. He wonders if there's any portrait of his old child hidden somewhere inside the castle; he hopes that there is.

The downside of immortality is that the humans that you grow fond of has to leave. Hadrian pushes the thought away with stubborn abandon; Tom is still a child and they still have time.

Hadrian loses track of their surroundings as he focuses on Tom's reactions to the beauty that is Hogwarts. Before he knows it they're in the Great Hall and Dumbledore is calling names. He looks up and meets Dumbledore's gaze, a coldly polite smile on his lips.

"Riddle, Tom!" Dumbledore calls at last.

Tom leads Hadrian towards the chair with the sorting hat by the hand, and Hadrian listens to the students' whispers. All of them recognise a monster when they see one, but monsters are not covered in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Neither the students nor the teachers knows quite what to do, and Hadrian takes pleasure in the bewilderment on the headmaster's face.

"Slytherin!" the sorting hat announces only seconds after it is placed on Tom's head. Tom doesn't allow Dumbledore to take the hat off, but offers it to Hadrian instead. Hadrian obediently bends down so Tom can place the ancient hat on his head.

"And what do we have here? A monster graces the corridors of Hogwarts."

"I do what I have to, hat."

"Monster or not, you need to be sorted if you intend to walk the castle."

"Oh? I do not wish to be separated from my child."

"The house of your heart does not force you to give up your responsibility as a protector."

"Then by all means, hat, sort me."

Hadrian has a small smile of amusement on his lips as he waits for the hat to call a house out. He knows it's unlikely that he will follow Tom into Slytherin; he has no ambitiousness to speak of. His position comes from hard work and peculiarity more than anything else.

"Hufflepuff!" echoes through the Great Hall at last, and Hadrian laughs as he hands the hat to Dumbledore. No one knows how to react after a monster gets sorted into the forgotten house. Tom applauds, and it echoes almost eerily. Hadrian laughs louder and leads Tom to the Slytherin table.

It takes quite a while before the sorting continues.

The next day is a Friday, and the first day of lessons. Hadrian slept under Tom's bed the night before, and he sits next to Tom at breakfast. Both the Hufflepuff and Slytherin heads of house keeps sending him glances which he ignores; he has no plans on leaving Tom to have lessons with Hufflepuffs. He has no real plan on participating in lessons at all, but Garrick's wand burns inside him - for a monster has no pockets but their skin - and the magic in the air fills him with anticipation.

When Hadrian gets a schedule at last, he's amused to find that Hufflepuff has all their lessons together with Slytherin.

Hadrian finds his way into the Chamber of Secrets that first weekend. He has left Tom asleep as he explores the castle; there's a lot of places where he can sense life that are hard to reach. If not for his ability to sense life forces, he would not have found something as the Chamber any time soon.

He considers if he should kill the basilisk if he plans to show the Chamber to Tom, but decides against it. Instead he draws the connection to Salazar Slytherin, and explores in hope to find a portrait of his long lost child.

As it happens, there's a hidden study filled with books that had a dusty portrait hanging behind the desk. Hadrian smiles at the sleeping man pictured; it has been long since they last saw each other.

Time is a concept used more by humans than by monsters, and therefore Hadrian is unprepared for the realisation that Tom is already on his way to turn sixteen. It's their fifth year at Hogwarts, and a lot has happened in those years.

Hadrian has taken to magic with a wand as a fish takes to water, and Tom has taken to magic overall as easy as breathing. The professors doesn't know quite what to do; Hadrian makes himself deserving of house points without trying and he is by all means a Hufflepuff, yet their uncertainty makes Slytherin win the house cup each year. Only Dumbledore seems to realise the competition in gaining points that Hogwarts has sprouted between him and Tom, but Dumbledore never gives Tom the acknowledgement that Tom deserves.

Then there's the Chamber, which Hadrian proudly presented to Tom a week into their first year. It did not take long for them to discover that Tom is a descendant of Salazar, and it took even less for Salazar to tease Hadrian about it. Hadrian does not know what there is to tease him about; Tom is his child now as Salazar once was, and the feelings that Hadrian harbors for Tom are nothing as the ones that he had for Salazar.

Salazar was afraid of the monster under his bed, Tom is not. Tom has invited the monster into his bed instead.

They're not lovers, as they are monster and child, but they're something that is hard to explain.

It's the first Defense lesson of their fifth year, and professor Merrythought has invited a boggart into the classroom. Hadrian is curious to see if a boggart has any way to scare a monster, but he also worries about Tom. He does not know what Tom is scared of any longer, but he hopes that it will not be Mrs Cole.

Then it's Tom's turn, and Hadrian hasn't needed to worry. The boggart turns into a bed, and although no other might find it particularly scary, Hadrian knows that Tom fears nothing more than losing the monster from underneath his bed. He feels oddly touched by it, and something else that he can't put words to.

"Why is the basilisk loose, Tom?" Hadrian asks one night as his limbs and tentacles are entwined with Tom's arms and legs. The bed is overflowing with drifting smoke, but Hadrian feels too comfortable to do anything about it and their roommates has had years to get used to it.

"She woke up and complained about being stuck. I would feel horrible to force her to wake up to captivity." Tom mumbles into a skin covered spot on Hadrian's chest. Most of his lower eyes are closed, but there's one open that gives him a spectacular view of Tom's face up close if he chooses to focus out of it. He does.

"She has petrified students." Hadrian counters. "We might not get as lucky the next time."

"I'll tell her to stop." Tom promises, as his hands starts to explore Hadrian's body. There's not the same innocence in the gesture as there usually is; Tom has since their first meeting been fascinated by the way Hadrian's body works. This time there's less exploring of any new areas, and more exploring like someone making a map. Hadrian doesn't know how to react, and his smokes drifts back towards his body as if to make him smaller.

"Tom?" he questions, uncertain. He has never been uncertain as often as he is with Tom.

"You're breathtaking." Tom answers, and that is that. Hadrian forgets what they were talking about as Tom's lips makes their own travels upon his skin.

A girl is murdered. A girl is murdered and Tom does not show any regret. Hadrian can do nothing but look on as Tom frames a third year Gryffindor for something that the basilisk did, for something that Tom is responsible for.

Hadrian personally puts the basilisk back to sleep. He wants to refuse to talk to Tom, but then Tom distracts him with lips and fingers, and all Hadrian can do is question how anyone can want a monster.

It takes a while before Hadrian realise that he can sense Tom in two places, as more often than not Tom keeps the diary on his person. The day that he does realise, the unlucky witnesses gets to see him in full monster get-up; something Mrs Cole was the last to see up close as Tom is now.

Of course, Tom is not affected by it, which only makes Hadrian more furious.

"What did you do?" he demands, tentacles keeping Tom pushed up against the wall next to their shared bed.

"Nothing that I didn't need to do." Tom defends himself yet avoids answering the question. Hadrian glares, which looks quite impressive when all eyes capable of it are focused on Tom.

"Splitting your soul was something you needed to do?!"

"I don't want to die!" Tom whispers furiously, and he keeps looking over Hadrian's shoulder to see if any of their roommates are still in their dorm. Hadrian in contrast does not care.

"Humans are not made for immortality!"

"But I want to be with you!" Tom confesses, in a desperate attempt to make him calm down. It's the most raw that Tom has been since Mrs Cole, and Hadrian visibly collapses into himself as he withdraws. He refuses to look at Tom, and closes all eyes with eyelids to make the point come across.

"Horcruxes are not the way to go." he answers stiffly. "And you're already with me."

It's the first and only time that Hadrian spend the night with Hufflepuff.

Tom gives Hadrian the diary the next day. Hadrian considers to destroy it before he puts it inside himself, closer to his heart than even his wand is.

Their relationship is not rocky for long. Hadrian has few morals as a monster, and he knows nothing but Tom in the human world. Going back to his office job seems impossible, and he sometimes finds himself thinking about resigning. He has no plans on going through with that thought, because Horcrux or not Tom will not always be there, but it's in a way a nice thought to have.

Hadrian keeps to the background as Tom is responsible for more murders and makes more Horcruxes. He does not even give a token protest when Tom's next horcrux is him. A living horcrux is unheard of, a monster horcrux even more so. He rather Tom lets him protect it than storing it in some item though.

Perhaps he's blinded by human emotions, because Hadrian likens it to Tom giving him his heart. Tom's soul piece settles into his bones like a second skin.

They graduate Hogwarts, and Tom finds a job in Knockturn Alley. Hadrian keeps more and more to the background, only really there when Tom goes to sleep. It's easier to pretend that his child is still innocent then, although few of the things they do in bed are truly innocent.

Loving a monster is much stranger than wanting one.

It's been long since his Tom was still Tom. The man next to him in bed still looks like his Tom, but Hadrian can sense his soul in too many places and he knows that the man prefers the name Voldemort. He does nothing but smile fondly at the sleeping face.

He feels more scared by Voldemort than Tom ever did of him. He doesn't mind.

Time passes, as time tends to do. Hadrian spends his time visiting Salazar, visiting Garrick, visiting Dumbledore. He talks about Hogwarts and magic with Salazar, create wands with Garrick, and unnerves Dumbledore.

When he misses Tom too much, he writes in the diary. Hadrian writes about Voldemort, and about his doubts. He considers leaving the human realm for his own, but then he looks at the sleeping Tom, the one that he is unable to refer to Voldemort, and his heart melts.

He has always been weak for a monster. Besides, he can't carry Tom's soul with him to a realm intertwined with Death. It would be unfair to Tom.

There's been a prophecy about someone with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord.

"You can't possibly go after a child!" Hadrian protests. He is horrified by the very thought; killing a mere babe is nothing like being the monster under their bed.

"It's a child with the power to vanquish me!" Voldemort counters.

"That's why you made Horcruxes, Tom!"

"You know how I feel about that name, Hadrian."

"Voldemort, then. Do you not trust me to be the safekeeper of your soul? To resurrect you if anything were to happen?!"

"I trust you, but I will not take unnecessary risks by letting the child live."

"At least let me come with; I will not have you vanquished."

Voldemort laughs at the absurd statement, but doesn't refuse his wish.

"He looks like you. He has your eyes and impossible hair." Voldemort says as they stand together in front of Harry Potter's cot. The mother lies dead by their feet. There's no monster assigned to Harry Potter, interestingly enough.

"Every monster has a child." Hadrian answers. It's quite strange to be met by his human equivalent; stranger still to think that his humanity would lead him to vanquish Tom.

"You know that I will still kill him?" Voldemort asks, and Hadrian is surprised by the awkwardness of the question.

"We could raise him." he suggests, although he knows that Voldemort has no patience for children. Tom did, once. Tom wanted to become a teacher. Voldemort is sadly not the same; soul splitting does that to a person.

"Avada Kedavra." is Voldemort's response.

Hadrian looks with sorrow at the spot where his lover stood only moments ago, and then towards the quiet child in the cot. He takes Voldemort's wand from the floor and leaves.

He has no need for his own wand when he has his lover's. It's with heavy steps that he enters Garrick's shop to return the holly wand.

Garrick says nothing, but returns the 13 galleons that Tom once paid with. Hadrian pockets them absently. He doesn't quite know what to do now, but he supposes that he should look into resurrecting his lover.

It's funny, he doesn't quite know if he or Tom is the real monster anymore. Maybe he never did.

Something tugs at his heartstrings, and Hadrian decides to follow it to where Harry Potter is. He looks on with disgust as Dumbledore places the child on the doorstep to a Muggle house. He has never been one to differ between magicals and Muggles, but he knows from Tom's childhood that magicals should be raised by their own.

He sneaks into the house to look around. He is lucky that the family has a small child, and that children get assigned monsters. The monster that he finds in the closet can tell him a lot about what a horrible family Harry is supposed to live with.

Hadrian is disgusted by the humans by the time the monster is done. He returns outside and lifts Harry up from the doorstep. Dumbledore is not there to stop him.

"You know, Harry, I think Tom needs to be taught a lesson. Besides, you're far too young to resurrect Dark Lords." Hadrian muses as he starts walking down the street, Harry cradled against his chest.

He has a child to raise, a barmy old man to get rid off, and a lover to find and resurrect.

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