[HP] Dearest Enemy

"Albus, you really don't need to send me off." Harry was a little dumbfounded.

"I assume you'd like to invite me in for a cup of tea." Dumbledore looked at him with a smile, without giving him any room to object.

"Okay, okay." Harry said conceding defeat, "Since you insist."

"I'm honored." Dumbledore smiled even more happily, and Harry reluctantly took out the key to open the door, letting Dumbledore in.

The room was as tidy and comfortable as ever, but Harry could tell at a glance that Tom had cleaned the room only yesterday.Tom wasn't as good at household charms as Harry was, but he could do just as well if Harry asked.

Harry asked Dumbledore to sit down on the sofa in the living room, then went into the kitchen to make tea.He needs to use magic as little as possible now, so he has to wait for a while to boil the water.

Tom was standing on the stairs in his pajamas, looking at him in surprise as he went into the living room with the tea tray.

"Harry? When did you come back?"

"I just came back." Harry stopped in his tracks, "Didn't you go to work today?"

"School will start next week, and I'm going to go shopping in Diagon Alley today." Tom looked at him, "Who's here?"

"Dumbledore," Harry replied.

Tom frowned and said, "I'm going to change." Then he turned and went back to his room.

Harry handed the teacup to Dumbledore, who thanked him and took a sip: "You're still so good at making tea."

Harry sat down on his usual armchair and picked up his glass.Not long after, Tom came in fully dressed and bowed slightly to Dumbledore.

"Good morning, Professor Dumbledore," said Tom politely.

"Good morning, Tom." Dumbledore winked at him kindly, "I didn't expect you to sleep in too."

"Only once in a while." Tom couldn't help frowning slightly, his eyes slipped past Harry, and he sat down on the sofa on his godfather's left.

Something was wrong, Tom watched Harry closely.I haven't seen him for a month. Harry has gained a lot of weight and turned white, but Tom always feels that Harry looks a bit strange, and some places seem to be different from before, and there is a subtle sense of disobedience.

Dumbledore said a few innocuous words to the two, then stood up.

"Although it is a bit abrupt, there is one thing that needs to be notified to you in advance, Tom." Dumbledore said to Tom, "I hope you can attend the Hogwarts staff meeting tomorrow afternoon as a teaching assistant."

Tom raised his eyebrows: "Sorry, Professor Dumbledore, I don't remember submitting an application for a teaching assistant."

Dumbledore smiled and patted Harry on the shoulder: "Harry will explain everything to you. Thank you for the tea, Harry. Goodbye, Tom."

Harry motioned for Tom to stay in the living room, then escorted Dumbledore out the door.

Tom sat back in his seat, picked up his teacup and slowly drank the cooling tea.Harry closed the door and sat down across from him, and Tom looked up questioningly.

"I applied for a teaching assistant. I need you to assist me with my teaching work in the next academic year." Harry said calmly, "Your class schedule can be freely arranged according to your wishes, and this work experience will be used when you graduate. In your letter of introduction. The decision will be announced at tomorrow's faculty meeting. I hope you will not object to this appointment at tomorrow's meeting."

"Why do you need me as your teaching assistant?" Tom asked.

"You've got to make sure you won't be angry when I'm done," said Harry. "Can you?"

Tom stared at him with half-closed eyes.Harry's behavior was very unusual, he didn't inform himself that he would be back today, and the news just now came very suddenly.Harry must have done something terrible.

"I'll try my best." Tom nodded one last time, "Go ahead."

"There was an explosion in my lab over the summer," said Harry quickly, "so I had to spend the rest of my vacation at St. Mungo's—"

"Wait, you said you took a vacation at St. Mungo's?" Tom sat up straight, feeling his surprise turn to anger.

"I'm sorry, Tom, I didn't inform you," said Harry apologetically. "I was actually just discharged this morning. The accident affected me a bit, but I want to teach for another year, so-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Tom felt a flash of anger come to his head. "You're at St. Mungo's for a holiday!"

"Tom, I apologize," said Harry, "I didn't expect an accident. And I've only been here for a month."

The black eyes stared at him closely: "And then?"

Harry looked puzzled.

"It hurts!" Tom didn't realize that he raised his voice, and stared at him fiercely, "How bad is your injury? You need to stay in St. Mungo's for a month, and you need a teaching assistant to assist you in teaching after you are discharged from the hospital! "

"I'm fine now." Harry said quickly, "But because of the explosion, it's difficult to recover the magic power, and I feel very tired after using magic, so I need you to help me."

"That's all?" Tom suppressed his anger a little, but his eyes still did not leave Harry, "How did you do it?"

"There was some conflict between the spell and the rune." Harry hesitated for a moment, but decided not to mention the curse.

"That's impossible," said Tom sharply. "It's not that simple. You're not telling the truth, Harry."

Harry simply shut his mouth, he didn't want to say too much.

Tom stared into those green eyes, angry and distressed.This half-talking fellow!Harry was now as annoying as Dumbledore.Why didn't he think about it, what if he died?Can't he let go of that damn research?Tom suddenly understood why Harry looked strange: he had turned pale, but it was the paleness of a serious illness.

Unforgivable!Tom turned away angrily.

"Okay, you don't want to say it." Tom said coldly, "I thought you would take care of yourself, and then you went to the hospital and didn't want me to take care of you." He stood up and walked in front of Harry, "You What do you think of me? A three-year-old who can't even take care of himself? Or am I a stranger who has nothing to do with you and doesn't need to know whether you are alive or dead? I know because of the Christmas incident You don't want to see me, but I never heard you say that you want to sever the godfather-son relationship with me!"

"Tom." Harry called him weakly, but the dark-eyed young man turned his head away.

"I don't want to hear your explanation," Tom said succinctly, holding out a hand, "I'll be at the staff meeting tomorrow, and I'll do the job you've assigned me, but other than that, I don't want to Listen to you say a word."

After Tom finished speaking, he strode out of the living room, and it wasn't long before Harry heard the sound of the door being slammed shut.Harry didn't chase it out, just sighed while clutching his forehead.He expected Tom to be angry, but he didn't expect that he didn't even want to hear his own words.

Dear Tom, I want to be by your side and see what you become, but I only have one year to be with you as a wizard, and then I have to live like a Muggle to go on living.You don't need a godfather who can't use magic, so we have to separate, which is not what I want.

I don't want to be separated from you, my boy, you still have a long way to go, I want to see how you go.

Tom didn't calm down until he was near the bridge.He was surprised to see Harry when he went downstairs in the morning, and then the surprise turned into happiness. If it wasn't for Harry holding a tea tray, he would have rushed to hug him like he did when he was a child, and buried his face in the crook of his neck inside.Then Harry told himself he'd spent most of his vacation at St. Mungo's, nearly died in an accidental explosion that affected his mana recovery.

On top of that, he was completely unaware of what had happened to him on holiday, Harry kept it all a secret!

Tom stopped in the clearing.Here at Christmas he kissed Harry, told him he loved him, and was coldly rejected by him.Tom was sad then, but not like now.It made me sad to be rejected, but Tom had fully survived the past six months, because Harry still regarded him as his relative and didn't push him away.

But now it was different, Harry completely concealed his accident from Tom, and he lost his right to be his relative.

Somewhere in my heart has collapsed, a hole has been opened that cannot be filled.

When did he trust you?

When did he really trust you?

When did he see you as his closest relative?

You love him, you want him to treat you well, and you want to be with him, all are your wishful thinking.

You should be awake, Tom Riddle.

Tom clenched his fists tightly, feeling a bit dry in his eyes.

Harry had no idea how his vacation was spent, what it was like to come home and look at the dark room, what he was telling himself almost every night that he had to get used to being alone In life, he didn't know the anxieties and troubles that he couldn't see him.He vented his negative emotions on Knockturn Alley, frequently accepting various commissions and businesses from Borgin and other scum in Knockturn Alley, trying to use his fulfilling life and fatigue to make himself ignore the fact that Harry didn't come home. That sense of loss.Because of his efforts, his Gringotts coffers had grown quite a bit, but it wasn't enough to satisfy him at all.

Something had happened to Harry and he didn't let himself know; Harry explained, but he wasn't telling the truth to himself.His godfather was trying to push him out of his sight, not wanting Tom to interfere in his life.

Tom bit his lip, he didn't want anyone to see his weakness, including himself.His throat was blocked, and he tried his best not to cry.

Tom didn't come back at noon, Harry went to Diagon Alley to find no one, and even went to Knockturn Alley, but didn't see Tom.Then Harry came back from doing some shopping for dinner, but didn't see Tom until eight o'clock.Harry couldn't help worrying, and finally contacted with the two-way mirror, only to find that Tom had once again left the mirror in his bedroom.

Tom still didn't come back until eleven o'clock, and Harry became anxious, and finally had to pick up the coat hanging on the coat rack, open the door and go out.

He didn't get very far, though, and Tom sat on the porch steps, staring quietly at the bushes outside the house.

"Tom." Harry finally exhaled in relief, "Why don't you come in."

"I don't know if I'm still qualified to enter." Tom didn't turn his head, still turning his back to Harry, "This is your house."

"This is your home too," said Harry resignedly, putting his hands on his shoulders.

Tom bit his lip and answered after a while: "But you treat me as a stranger."

"I'm sorry, Tom. There won't be another time," said Harry. "I promise."

Tom still didn't move.Harry sighed and bent down to grab his godson's wrist.Tom stood up with a look of reluctance, and then gave a loud stomach growl.

Tom curled his lips, and Harry frowned.

"Have you eaten yet?"

Tom glared at him disapprovingly.He hadn't eaten anything since morning, wandered the streets of London all day, and then sat down on the steps after dark when he had nowhere to go, and miraculously he didn't feel hungry.

"I'm not hungry." He turned his head away.

Harry looked at the two blushes on his face angrily and amusedly: "Go in and wash your hands, I'll heat up dinner."

"I said I wasn't hungry," said Tom stubbornly.Harry shook his head, half dragging his godson into the house.

Tom sat down at the table with a grudging expression on his face, watched Harry bring the steaming meal to him, and then scooped him a bowl of fragrant onion soup.Tom couldn't help sniffling, and finally felt that he was very hungry.

"Eat quickly." Harry also sat down.Tom watched in amazement as he picked up the fork.

"You didn't eat either?"

Harry glanced at him: "Eat quickly, you shouldn't talk while eating."

Tom raised an eyebrow to retort, but Harry had already picked up the fork.Tom suddenly felt that his anger had come out of nowhere, that he had been acting like a complete fool all day, so he put his head down and began to drink his soup.Perhaps it was because of being hungry all day, the soup tasted surprisingly good, and it was Harry's handicraft that he was familiar with.The dark-eyed young man glanced cautiously at his godfather, who was not looking at Harry, who was so absorbed in cutting his own slice of pie.The look on Tom's face finally relaxed as he remembered the coat that Harry had draped over his arm when he went out.

Harry actually cared about himself, didn't he?He only needs to know this, and there is nothing else to care about.The sunken place in his heart disappeared at some point, and Tom didn't even realize that the corners of his mouth were slightly curled up, and he also pulled over the plate containing the pie, and cut it briskly.