With love, Harry

Summary:

In which Harry goes back in time, adopts his arch nemesis and pulls one infamous Dark Lord into his madness somewhere along the way.

"Surprise! Tom, meet your grandfather!"

"Harry. That's Gellert Grindelwald."

"I know. Isn't it exciting!? And he'll be tutoring you to be the greatest Dark Lord ever!"

"What?"

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling is the boss of it all.

Warning: Grammar, perhaps?

One

"Who are you?"

"I'm Harry."

"Just Harry?"

The stranger's green, green eyes sparkled with amusement as he replied with a nod. "Yes. Just Harry."

"Oh."

Tom paused, not knowing what to make of the young man no older than twenty who had suddenly dropped down from a tree.

Today was a Saturday; one of those rare Saturdays when the children of Wool's Orphanage were taken out for a picnic in the outskirts of London, to be precise.

Once they had reached their destination after a rather long bus ride, Tom Marvolo Riddle, the resident of room number twenty-seven, separated himself from the group. He chose to stick close to the trees instead in hopes of finding a snake to have a conversation with. Admittedly, most reptiles rarely had anything intelligent to say but sometimes, just sometimes, he would find one or two who he could actually put up a decent conversation with.

And that was when "Harry" appeared before him.

Landing face first on the ground with a groan.

Tom was amazed the young man hadn't broken his nose with such a spectacular fall.

"What...are you?" Tom curiously tilted his head to the side as he watched the other take on a sitting position on the spread of green grass. No ordinary human would have, after all, just dropped down from a tree.

"A wood nymph." Harry replied almost instantly before pausing. "But you won't tell the other humans, would you?"

Tom frowned. "Nymphs are female."

He knew this because of this one book on Greek mythology that he kept close to his side back in the orphanage. It was the only one that had many words useful for increasing his vocabulary. The other books in the library were mostly stories for children, and that meant they were written in a straightforward manner.

With words he was already familiar with.

Harry blinked. "Ah. They are, aren't they?" He tilted his head up to narrow his eyes at the foliage of the tree he sat under. "But they wouldn't let go of me, you see. And they keep insisting that I am one of them, fratribus this and fratribus that, gods they're really clingy creatures. I just managed to get away." He ended up muttering more to himself than to Tom with an almost pained expression. "I hope they leave me alone now."

[*fratribus: brethren in Latin]

"You are lying."

Harry turned to him with a look of surprise, one that clearly said he forgotten the boy was there.

The two stared at each other for a few brief seconds.

"I could show you something as proof if you want." The wood nymph's lips split into a grin as he stretched out a hand to him. "Here, give me your hand."

Tom knew it was common sense to not listen to strangers, or even talk to them in the first place. And this young man before him clearly seemed like a lunatic.

After all, nymphs were just myths.

But albeit being suspicious, he was still curious.

Tom hesitated before stretching out his hand. He jerked when the nymph suddenly took hold of it, partly out of his surprise that the nymph's hands were warm and mostly because he was wary of him.

Harry closed his eyes as he cupped both his hands over the boy's open palm. He seemed to be in some sort of deep concentration while murmuring under his breath. And Tom couldn't help but watch on in fascination as a cool sensation spread over his hand that slowly started to glow a faint green.

When the nymph removed his hands, a gasp involuntarily left Tom.

There was a tiny seedling resting in the palm of his hand, transforming into what seemed to be a flower.

A pretty blue flower.

Unbeknownst to the young boy, Harry was watching him with a soft smile playing on his lips and an equally fascinated look that mirrored Tom's.

Tom looked up from the now fully grown flower to the nymph and asked in an almost breathless voice, "How?"

"I told you I'm a wood nymph." Harry shrugged with a grin. "A rare wood nymph, seeing that all nymphs are female, like you pointed out."

"What else can you do?" Tom blurted out before he could stop himself.

Harry laughed and Tom's cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment.

"A lot." The nymph replied before Tom could take back his words. He patted the empty spot next to him. "Come sit here, I'll show you."

For the next hour, Tom Riddle sat by Harry's side, marvelling at all the tricks and show of "magic" (as the nymph had termed it) up his sleeve.

The boy even fetched his share of lunch as quickly as he could before hurrying back to the nymph's side, simply not wanting to miss anything Harry had to show.

(He even ended up having to share his sandwich after losing a debate that nymphs were purely vegetarian.

Harry had said he was an exception and that he loved ham.)

Strangely enough, no one bothered the two or even strayed over; it almost felt like they were invisible to the other children. Not like that was a bad thing.

No, it was rather peaceful and nice.

After another hour, it was finally time for the children to head back to the orphanage.

"Do you think we might meet each other again?" Tom asked as he stared into Harry's green, green eyes.

He felt a strange sort of attachment to the nymph. Maybe it was because no one else treated him like Harry did. After all, he had no friends back in the orphanage.

They called him strange.

A freak.

But Harry didn't.

Harry looked to him as a friend.

Harry actually seemed to care.

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to return here. Or if we might even be taken out for another picnic for the rest of this year, as a matter of fact."

"Wow. You're so smart, Tom." Harry said as he ruffled up the boy's hair, laughing when his hand was swatted away by the frowning boy. "Impressive. That's what makes you so special."

Tom looked annoyed but was strangely pleased on the inside at the praise.

Harry had acknowledged him.

And Harry said he was special.

"We'll meet again." The nymph smiled. "Soon."

Tom nodded before heading off to join the others without another word.

Harry smile stretched into a grin when Tom paused in his steps and turned around.

"You promise?"

"I promise!"

When the boy walked out of his sight, Harry gave a deep sigh and turned to the woods with a frown.

"I know you're hiding in there."

A beautiful lady stepped out from behind a tree.

And as though following her lead, more than a dozen women with equally dazzling beauty stepped out from behind the cluster of trees with playful smiles on their faces.

"Why can't you people leave me alone?" Harry groaned. "And for the last time: I. Am. Not. A. Nymph."

"But Master Harry just told the child of man that he was one of us." One of them said as she sashayed over to him, a mischievous look painting her features.

"Have you ever heard that it's really rude to listen in on other people's conversations— hey! Woah, wait! What are you doing!? Put me down!"

"Come my sisters, Master Harry has finally accepted that he is our fratribus. We must celebrate!"

"No, hold on a second— ugh, Death! Come help me, you stinking bastard, for Merlin's sake! DEATH!"

The next time Tom met Harry was on the day he turned eight.

The boy had been out in the snow, heading over to the library closest to the orphanage. Of course it usually stayed closed during this time of the year, but the owner made a special exception for Tom ever since she had discovered that New Year's Eve was his birthday.

He had gone out in such a hurry after being granted permission from Mrs. Cole and had thus forgotten to take his scarf along.

And this was why Tom could be seen walking with a frown while absentmindedly rubbing his neck, hoping to warm it up somehow— when he bumped into a person.

"Sorry, sir." He immediately apologized.

"Tom. Where's your scarf?"

His head immediately snapped up to look at the person who had just chastised him. "Harry?"

It had been a whole year since their last encounter but Harry still looked the same as he did when they first met.

Was it a nymph's secret?

"Honestly, I had thought you to be more responsible." The nymph huffed as he tugged his own scarf off his neck and proceeded to wind it round Tom's. "Children are more prone to falling ill. Remember that and start taking better care of yourself."

The boy blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Am I not allowed to take a walk through the streets of the muggl— London?"

"But—"

"Oh, come on." Harry sighed. "I told you I'm a rare wood nymph. And besides, my companions have long fallen asleep because of this winter spell." He said as he waved his hand around to gesture at the snow that was gently falling. "It gets lonely without having anyone to talk to."

"Oh." Tom replied, unsure of what to say.

"So, where are you going?" The nymph asked with a bright grin.

"The library."

Harry snorted, quickly turning it into a cough when Tom shot him a glare.

"Of all places? And on your birthday?" Harry gasped rather dramatically. "Come on, there should be something more interesting to do than that."

Tom narrowed his eyes. "How do you know it's my birthday?"

"Tom. I just know things, alright?" Harry grinned. "Just how many times am I going to have to tell you how special I am?"

The boy stayed quiet, wondering what to say before placing a hand on the soft white scarf round his neck. "I'll return this to you—"

"Keep it." Harry shook his head. "Think of it as my birthday gift to you, okay?"

Tom's eyes widened. The only gifts he had ever received were hand-me downs from the orphanage, or cheap stationery.

Never something like this.

Something that made him feel...loved.

(And it smelled faintly sweet like flowers, like Harry.)

"The woodland elves weave the finest clothes in the whole of the woods in Switzerland." Harry said as he fondly ruffled Tom's hair. "They gifted it to me when I visited their palace once upon a time."

"They live in palaces?" The boy asked, clearly intrigued.

"Big ones. Massive in structure and very cunningly hidden from the eye of men." The nymph hummed before taking Tom by the hand, much to the boy's surprise. "Come, let us go somewhere to eat. You haven't had lunch yet, have you? I'll tell you all about them while we eat, consider it another birthday present from me to you."

Tom felt warmth grow within him.

"Okay."

And it was the best birthday he had ever had for the first time in his life.

"This one."

The man had unearthly pale skin. His jet black hair that was slid back gave him the look of an aristocrat. It was not just his hair but the way he carried himself too. And the big ring strange ring adorning the finger pointed at Tom.

"Sir, but this boy is—"

"I said I want him." The man shot a cold look at Mrs. Cole who involuntarily took a step back. "Is there some kind of problem with my choice?"

Mrs. Cole visibly paled. "N-No, sir. Of course not. I'll prepare the papers now."

The man turned his attention back to Tom with a smirk. "I assume you must be Tom Riddle?"

The boy frowned but stopped himself from giving a rude reply. "Yes, sir."

"Hmm, you appear scrawnier than I expected you to be."

"Do you know of me, sir?"

"Yes, I do." The man nodded as he absentmindedly watched the other children file out of the waiting room, leaving the two alone to themselves. "My...wife speaks rather fondly of you."

"Wife…sir? I do not remember meeting any lady who would be fond of me. Perhaps you have the wrong child?"

"You don't seem excited to be adopted." The man tilted his head to the side. "Were you perhaps waiting for someone else to come along and take you away?"

Tom clenched his fists but said nothing.

"Stubborn." The man smirked before turning his attention over to Mrs. Cole who had re-entered the room.

"Go and pack your belongings, Tom." The woman instructed stiffly.

"Yes, Mrs. Cole."

He left the room and returned with a small suitcase in his hand after almost half an hour. By then, the formalities of his adoption were already complete.

For some reason, his name was to remain the same.

When he looked up in confusion at his now adoptive father, the man's smirk simply widened.

"Well, come along." The man said as he turned and began to head towards the door.

"My wife is so eager to meet you, again."

A/N:

So this is just me, testing the waters in the Harry Potter fandom (which I got pulled into just last year and I don't regret it at all) with my first HP fanfic :'D lol

Do leave your opinions in the review, I delight in reading reviews!

AND THANK YOU FOR READING AND GIVING THIS A TRY! ^^

[Edit: 21-01-2019] phew, with this New Year, I decided to run this fanfic through with some edits. Remove unnecessary bits and refine other part while try and recover from this writer's block I'm suffering from *sighs*. Do bear out patiently through this with me! Thank you! The other chapters will be updated every day until I get to the latest release!