[HP] Dearest Enemy

On Christmas Eve, Slughorn threw a small party as was customary.The Potions professor, who has an extraordinary talent for discovering talents, soon discovered the powerful strength hidden in Harry's gentle and low-key appearance, so Harry was also on his list of invited guests.

Harry hadn't forgotten what it was like dealing with the old spider.Slughorn isn't bad, but he's snobby.When Harry was arranging his black dress robe, he recalled the scenes of those gatherings more than ten years ago. He wondered what would happen to the old spider's face if he knew that he was the future savior and Tom was the future Dark Lord. expression.

Slughorn's office was on the ground floor, not far from Lislytherin's lounge, which Harry recognized as Snape's, but the layout was completely different from Snape's.There were none of the dreaded potted carcasses, or the eerie feel of cellars.He made his basement like a big tent.Drapes of emerald green, crimson, and gold hung from the ceiling and walls, dividing the room into its various parts; in the center of the ceiling hung a golden crystal chandelier, illuminating the whole room; It sounded like ethereal singing to the accompaniment of mandolins; house-elves carried heavy silver plates through the crowd like roaming little tables.

"Good evening, Professor Potter." Harry heard a familiar voice as soon as he entered the door. Turning his head, he saw that he was wearing a dark gray dress robe, which was full of complicated patterns and decorations, but these were very suitable. he.Alfat still tied his long hair behind his head with a silver headband, and a few strands of black hair hung gracefully on his forehead.

"Good evening, Alphard," said Harry, smiling. "You're invited, too?"

"I'm here with Tom." Alfred replied a little sheepishly. "He's talking to Professor Slughorn over there."

Harry looked in the direction Alfred was pointing at. It was the busiest group of people in the room. Tom was wearing a very low-key black dress robe and was standing among several wizards who were much older than him, talking. With a humble yet confident smile on his face.Slughorn, in a dark red suit buttoned tight over his round belly, laughed and slapped Tom on the shoulder, promoting his best student to the gentlemen around him.

Harry watched as Tom shook hands with one of the men, then suddenly Tom turned his head and looked over the top of a short man's head at Harry.Harry nodded at him, and Tom seemed hesitant to greet Harry, but Slughorn spotted Harry at the same time.

"Here you are, Harry." The potions professor who had begun to bald smiled and waved to Harry, and Harry walked over to him helplessly, "I was just about to introduce you to them. The black magician who just took office this year Defense teacher, the youngest professor ever taught at Hogwarts, and Harry is Tom's guardian."

The gentlemen around greeted Harry with amazement, and one of them, a young man with long platinum hair and luxurious clothes, held out his hand to Harry: "You are Mr. Potter, I am honored to meet you. I am Abraxas Malfoy, Tom's friend."

A Malfoy, Harry looked at the slick-haired young man with some vigilance, and shook hands with him restrainedly.Compared with the arrogant Lucius and the spoiled Draco, Abraxas has a kind of frivolous feeling, Harry suddenly recalled that this is Draco who died of dragon plague and syphilis grandfather.He was so young now, he looked only a few years older than Tom.

"Tom used to mention you when I was at school." Abraxas looked at Harry with a smirk, and even the politeness seemed hypocritical.

"Really?" said Harry.Tom frowned imperceptibly as he looked at the platinum peacock looking at him, and slipped away from Harry quietly.

Harry hated this kind of entertainment very much, but it was inconvenient to excuse him now.By the time he finally got rid of the people around him, Tom was gone.

"Harry, tell me how you raised such an excellent child?" Slughorn patted Harry's arm, "Tom is the best student I have ever met, you can't imagine how cute he is People like it. The future of this child is limitless..."

Harry searched for Tom in the crowd with his peripheral vision, but Tom seemed to avoid him deliberately.Harry had to admit that he felt a heavy sense of loss and frustration after Tom rejected his apologies one after another.Harry somewhat regretted leaving Tom during that time, he was no longer able to restrain the growing boy, which was a dangerous sign.Harry knew that Tom received his gang in his dormitory every week, including Antonin Dolokhov and Avery who were two grades older than him, and Les who was younger than him. Trange and Selwyn.These people are Death Eaters, they have been following Tom, and they are the backbone of the future Death Eaters.And Malfoy had friendship with Tom when he was a student, and Lucius' qualifications as a Death Eater are really old enough.

Finally Slughorn walked away from Harry.Harry secretly breathed a sigh of relief, looking for Tom's trace among the shadowy crowd.In fact, it was not difficult to find Tom. He was making full use of this opportunity to meet all kinds of useful people. Harry saw a group of different people standing beside Tom.But Tom was so cleverly positioned that Harry couldn't see him without turning around.Tom noticed that Harry was looking at him, raised his glass of wine politely to him, and turned to chat with a middle-aged man wearing a monocle.

This stubborn brat!Harry stared angrily at Tom's back, and suddenly felt someone pulling his sleeve.

"Professor Porter." It was Alfred. "Can I have a few words with you?"

Harry felt a little surprised, but he liked this Black who looked like Sirius very much, so he nodded: "Shall we go over there?"

The two came behind a crimson curtain, and Alphard seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking: "I hope I didn't offend the professor, but I still want to ask, is Tom reconciled with you?"

Harry raised his eyebrows.It seems that the relationship between this little Black and Tom is closer than what I have seen.Harry knew very well that his relationship with Tom was very good in the eyes of others. Except for Dumbledore, who was always very keen, none of the other professors could see that Tom and Harry were actually still in a state of cold war.And Tom never showed any disrespect to Harry in front of everyone.

"You know about Tom?" Harry asked quietly.

Alpha nodded his head: "Tom has been unhappy this semester, I can see that. Tom just refused to admit it, and he has actually forgiven you."

Harry smiled wryly.The kid also came to persuade himself to reconcile with Tom, but it seemed that his persuasion had no effect on Tom.

"Thank you, Alphard," said Harry gently. "Tom is honored to have a friend like you."

"I'm just worried about him." Arafat blushed slightly, "I hope he won't be so stubborn."

"He just needs time," said Harry, smiling.

"I like your class very much, Professor Potter." Alfred finally smiled at Harry, "You are a great teacher."

Harry was greatly surprised by Arffat's words, he never expected to be praised by his own students in person.Before Harry could respond, Alphat bowed slightly to him, got out of the curtain and ran away.

Harry tilted his head playfully, this Alphard doesn't look like a Slytherin.

Tom signed the detention book during the Christmas break.Now that Harry was back, there was no need for him to go back to the Muggle world for Christmas.Tom has always wanted to see what Christmas at Hogwarts is like, and more importantly, there are few people in the school at Christmas time, so he can sneak into the restricted area or other places where he can't usually go to find clues to the Chamber of Secrets .In Tom's view, the Chamber of Secrets and his life experience have been connected together.Although he was a bit disapproving of Salazar Slytherin's purpose in building the Chamber of Secrets, it was after all his ancestors, and in a sense, Tom felt obligated to find the Chamber of Secrets and inherit what was inside.

Harry also stayed at school.The magnificent Christmas decorations in the Great Hall made Harry so nostalgic about it all, he had almost forgotten about the armor that only had half the lyrics.Not many teachers and students remained at the school, except for Tom, Hagrid and two Gryffindor girls in the sixth year and a Hufflepuff in the third year.Not many professors stayed in the school. Except for Principal Dippet and Dumbledore, there were only Flitwick and the witch Belial who taught arithmetic and divination. The administrator Ogg also left, but Slughorn Harry was a little surprised that he didn't stay at school.

When Harry walked into the Great Hall on Christmas night, the only teachers and pupils were seated at one table.Tom looked up at Harry when he entered, but Dumbledore smiled and beckoned Harry to sit down beside him.

"We're not many people, it's kind of silly to sit at those long tables." Dumbledore said happily, Harry sat down between Tom and Dumbledore, and the good-natured Headmaster Dippet and Flitwick were chatting What.Harry nodded to Hagrid, who sat at the other end of the table, and the big boy grinned happily.Hagrid was in third year now, and Harry didn't know if Hagrid had received Aragog's eggs yet.He still remembered that Hagrid had been expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, and the culprit was sitting next to him.

Keeping Tom from opening the Chamber of Secrets is one of the reasons Harry came to Hogwarts.

"Do you want tripe?" Harry asked Tom.Tom nodded, watching Harry deftly distribute the food on his plate.Everyone present knew that Harry was Tom's guardian, and they were not surprised by Harry's behavior.Only Dumbledore noticed that although the two seemed to be enjoying their sumptuous Christmas dinner, they were carefully avoiding each other's eyes.

After dinner, Tom did not return to the dormitory, but continued to search for clues to the secret room in the castle.Tom carefully avoided all paths that Harry might find, and went straight to the fourth floor.Tom is going to check in the girls' bathroom today.The most difficult place to check is the women's toilet. There are not many people in the castle now, so Tom can use this time to check it out.

"Tom, I remember I said you shouldn't be wandering around the castle after curfew."

Tom turned around abruptly, and Harry was standing in the doorway with his lighted wand up, looking at him sternly.Tom was stunned. How did Harry find out that he had sneaked in?

"What are you looking for?" Harry asked blankly.

Tom looked at him coldly, trying to hide his surprise: "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really?" Harry asked, staring closely at Tom.For the first time, Tom felt as if he was going to be pierced by the green-eyed man in front of him, which made him annoyed for no reason.

"What I'm looking for is my business!" said Tom through gritted teeth. "It's none of your business."

"Don't think I don't know what you're looking for, Tom Riddle!" said Harry. "Five points from Slytherin!"

Tom was stunned for a moment. Harry was the most tempered teacher in the school. He hadn't heard of anyone deducting marks for half a semester. Did he seem to be the first lucky one?Tom coughed lightly: "Professor Potter, the school is on holiday now, you can't deduct points from any student, even if he is in school."

"Then I'm at least concerned about his right to confinement." Harry glared angrily at the increasingly disobedient teenager, "Tom Riddle has to come to me every night of the holiday to be confinement until the holiday is over!"

"The punishment for night tours is a week of confinement." Tom said coldly, "You are abusing your power, Professor Potter."

"Starting tonight." Harry stared into Tom's black eyes, which were unscrupulously releasing his anger with those pure black eyes, "You can tell Principal Dippet that I abused my power, but considering that I It's your guardian, and I don't think he would mind if I keep you in confinement until the end of the summer vacation."

An angry expression appeared on Tom's face, and his originally delicate features became rough.Harry frowned, but only a few seconds later, Tom turned his face away.

"Very good, Professor Potter." Tom's tone was full of sarcasm and disdain, "So what's the content of confinement tonight? Cleaning the women's toilet?"