[HP] Similar but different

"...you're enough, Ron."

The red-haired and freckled boy nearly slid under the table laughing when Harry warned sullenly and resignedly. "I...haha...no...hahaha!" Ron laughed uncontrollably, "Did he really... say that, Harry?"

Harry kept his mouth shut, not wanting to talk to him at all.

Hermione gave Ron a reproachful look, then patted the back of Harry's hand reassuringly. "Think of the good," she said as gently as possible, "it would be in your best interest indeed if he would take over teaching the rest of your studies."

Harry knew it without her telling her.Leaving aside the fact that the Aurors were his goal: the mere possibility of losing face in front of the Dark Lord forced him to give it his all. "He already knew that I would do my best to fight him," he was still gloomy, "this is the aggressive method."

"That's right," Hermione nodded, approvingly, "the one that works best for you."

Ron looked at Harry, then at Hermione, and managed to get himself under control. "No," he said in surprise, "Why do you seem to agree with You-Know-Who, Hermione?"

"Come on, I don't agree with him..." Hermione said impatiently, but suddenly became thoughtful, "No, it might be. You see, I can't push you both at the same time: now He's made it clear that Harry is completely in his charge, so I'll..." She turned to Ron, her eyes burning.

The unfinished meaning in it made Ron completely unable to laugh.He didn't understand at all how the fire suddenly burned himself. "What about you?" He asked in a whisper, his bad premonition getting stronger and stronger.

Harry knew what Hermione meant, and knew that he could now avenge Ron for laughing, but he still couldn't laugh.He is still depressed - he really should work hard, but it's not bad for Valentine's Day, right?

As for Hermione, she didn't mind Ron's panic at all. "Transformation Essay...Potion Essay...Spell Practice..." She took out her schedule and stretched out her hand again, "Give me your schedule, Ron, and I will make a more detailed study for you." plan."

Ron couldn't refuse, so he could only hand it over with a sad face.When Hermione bowed his head to study, he whispered to Harry, "I really changed my mind." He tried his best to use his most solemn attitude, and the previous schadenfreude was completely gone on his face, "I was wrong, Harry. If Hermione was going to crush me with my homework, you'd help me, wouldn't you?"

Harry nodded, his tone heavy. "As long as he doesn't crush me with homework first."

The two looked at each other, and both saw the sympathy and sympathy on each other's faces.

Anyway, Voldemort's arrangement took effect immediately, and Harry dutifully carried his schoolbag to the office on the third floor the next day.When he entered the door, Tom, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, just appeared in the picture frame, and the timing was very precise.

Harry remembered the embarrassment of their last meeting—Tom asked him and Voldemort if they knew their pattern of fighting was lovers' bickering—and he hadn't seen each other in the Stone Room since.He couldn't help guessing that the reason was probably the same as he had never seen Voldemort's pet snake.

The idea of ​​a portrait seems to be close to Harry's. "Long time no see, Harry," the handsome young man said with a smile, obviously playful. "If possible, I hope our meeting will be better than the disastrous last time."

Harry snorted softly, but didn't reply.He felt that it probably depended on the correctness of his homework and the politeness of the other party's criticism, and he happened to have little confidence in either of these things, especially the latter.

However, the result was beyond Harry's expectations.Tom helped him correct all the mistakes in the homework and the wand movements of the spell practice, with a gentle tone and a patient attitude. It seemed that Tom Riddle was the polite and excellent male student president and prefect in the eyes of his teachers and classmates.

At the end of the day, except for meal times, they stayed together.It has to be said that Harry's homework progress has improved visible to the naked eye, and it can be described as rapid.

In the middle of the night, Harry slumped back in his armchair, yawning uncontrollably.There was still a small pile of parchment on the table waiting to be filled, but sleep was already weighing heavily on his head like a heavy weight.

"Come here today." Tom suggested promptly.

Harry squinted at each other.Even if it is a portrait, the skill of observing words and expressions has not weakened in the slightest? "Voldemort," he said slowly, "it's you... how much work did you put into this?"

There was no beginning or end to this, but Tom understood it in a moment. "Not much," he replied, "usually he does, I see." He gave Harry a researching look. "What do you ask for?"

Harry was wondering when he would be able to teach the portrait to be so like himself, and he was a little discouraged when he heard this.Could it be that if a person is smart, the portrait is also particularly smart?But on the other hand, Voldemort is really not like someone who would spend too much energy on portraits. "Nothing." He was rather resentful.

Tom raised his eyebrows slightly. "If nothing else," he said objectively, "then let's say goodnight."

Harry really missed his four-poster bed very much, and he couldn't help asking: "What is he doing?"

"Huh?" Tom had already turned his back, and when he heard this, his brows raised even higher, "I'm telling you that his itinerary is not among the errands he asked me to do."

Harry wanted to glare at Tom, but he had to suspect that doing so to the portrait would be a waste of time. "Okay..." He muttered sleepily, and began to pack his textbooks.

Tom stared at Harry without blinking.It wasn't until Harry left with his schoolbag that he strode out of the frame to another portrait of himself at the Bogstone House. "It's over." He said as soon as he poked his head out.

In the room, Voldemort was reading a report he had just submitted by candlelight.The handwriting on the parchment scroll was small and dense, so long that it dragged from the table to the ground. "Well," he replied, without moving, "later than I thought...does it go well?"

"Almost." Tom grudgingly curled his lips. So far he hasn't found anyone who can fully satisfy him-compared with himself.

There was a brief moment of silence, and the silence made Voldemort realize something, half-rolling his eyelids. "Anything else?"

Tom showed some hesitation, but they disappeared quickly. "A little bit," he admits, "I think the boy is a bit weird, although his attitude is more than last collaboration."

Voldemort was about to move the next inch of parchment, when he heard this, he stopped. "How to say?"

Tom told the whole story of their last conversation. "The boy gave up too quickly, unlike his usual style of breaking the casserole." He summed it up.

"What do you think is the reason?"

"There are only a few things that can bother a boy," Tom lazily snapped his fingers. "Study, friends, relatives... Which do you think it is?"

Facing the question of being thrown back, Voldemort was not at all embarrassed.He knew exactly what Harry cared about, and he could easily deduce why Harry reacted that way; but... "Did he use Occlumency on me?"

Tom was surprised for a moment. "What? You didn't read it from his head?" He began to be a little curious, "Really?"

Voldemort didn't answer right away.He put down the report, and opened the small mahogany drawer on the side, and there was a silver ring of a double-headed snake lying alone in it.As soon as he put it on his finger, his eyes seemed to be empty.Under Tom's gaze, his face gradually darkened, like a cloudy sky before a storm.

"Or not?" asked Tom, but there was no question in it.

Voldemort's eyes suddenly focused. "Yes," he nodded slightly, his tone so gloomy that he could drip water, "and I suspect he may not have noticed it himself."

Now Tom couldn't understand. "what happened?"

Voldemort stared down at the serpent ring, as if trying to poke a hole out of it. "Black," he said, still gloomy, "I knew at the time that this would never end. But Harry was obviously hiding something more—he probably didn't want me to meet Black again, so he subconsciously kept Black from me." real reaction."

Realizing what this meant, Tom was momentarily speechless. "Blake's reaction could have been much worse?" he tried to deduce, "and the boy wants to figure it out himself?"

"Black and I have nothing to talk about, after all he just wants to kill me." Voldemort snorted back.He stood up and took two steps a little restlessly.Due to gravity, the long piece of parchment completely slipped to the ground, and he didn't notice it. "I know it's not going to be as easy as Harry said, and he wants us to work it out, but he obviously doesn't really believe that I have anything good to do."

Now Tom felt that he should not answer.Because of the underlying reasons for their distrust of Harry, they both knew it well.In addition, the last time Harry mentioned this matter, Voldemort's answer was obviously not satisfactory to Harry.

There was another moment of silence.

"Harry has reasons to do this," Voldemort said again, his voice becoming extremely soft, "but I also have reasons to believe that he can't convince Black, and neither can Dumbledore." He seemed to be thinking, but also seemed to be afraid of being disturbed. What. "Blake looked at me clearly, he is a person who is still living in the past, and it is very likely that he has no plan to come out..."

The end of the words disappeared in the air, and the stone house fell into silence, occasionally there was the slight sound of candles peeling off.Voldemort stood there fixedly, his slanted figure swaying slightly with the candlelight on the stone wall, like some kind of dormant beast waiting to emerge.

To be honest, he doesn't care if Sirius lives or dies.But if a little effort can make the boy happy, then he is willing to do it.Likewise, he didn't care about Sirius' reaction.He has long been used to hiding himself, and he still thinks that hiding is the easiest solution.

Indifference and cruelty are both a symbol of his perfection and a weapon tailor-made for him; it is almost invincible, until his greatest failure, until...

"Why can't you try it?"

Harry's words seemed to ring in Voldemort's ears again.The boy is indeed different, he is his horcrux, they live and die together; the boy who always wants him back is definitely unique, considering that people are always less forgiving of others' mistakes...

Voldemort thought he would never be able to achieve the true repentance that Harry expected, nor would he ever be able to reciprocate the full range of emotions Harry harbored, but the growing dark possessiveness was enough for him to make up his mind.Dumbledore would probably be mad with joy, he thought viciously as he took off his gold ring, there was indeed a small area of ​​him beginning to look like them...

This conclusion made the Dark Lord shudder imperceptibly, but he suppressed it quickly.All he was sure of was that Harry couldn't go anywhere but by his side; then, a negotiation was imminent, and he must not show any fear in front of his opponent, even if the opponent was the undead he had killed.

The Resurrection Stone still glows dimly in the center of the ring, and its appearance is too unremarkable to connect it with the legendary Deathly Hallows.Voldemort stared blankly at the black lozenge he had never actively used, and slowly turned the ring three times.

The author has something to say:

Two-headed snake silver ring, the foreshadowing corresponds to chapters 45 and 71, guess what it is used for?