[HP] Dearest Enemy

"Harry, what does that word mean?"

The boy with black hair and black eyes was holding a book as big as a dictionary and asking questions to the man who was busy among the bookshelves.The man took off his round glasses, wiped them on the apron, and looked at the book in the boy's hand: "This is Latin, which means sphinx. Did Hooper give you this book?"

The black-haired boy shrank back, and told the truth under the questioning pair of emerald green eyes: "I found it on the shelf over there."

The man sighed as expected: "Put the book back where it was."

"Yes." The boy answered sullenly with his head drooping.Harry looked at Tom's reluctant back and frowned.Time flies, and it will be July soon, Tom will receive the Hogwarts admission notice, and then board the express train bound for Hogwarts on September 11st. 11-year-old Tom is completely different from the kid who was afraid of Harry five years ago.Tom is much taller than other children of the same age, which makes him look very thin, and the handsome appearance of the future can already be seen in the young face.Because of his help in the bookstore, the black pupils of the boy have a deepness and wisdom that is rare for children of this age, which makes him not look like an [-]-year-old boy, but a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy, although he is still full. Her face is childish, but she is more mature than her peers.

"Harry, your owl." The old man's voice came from the entrance.Harry hurriedly put the last book on the shelf and rushed to the door of the store.A snow-white owl was standing on a cabinet next to the cash register, an envelope tied to its scaly talons.

"Thank you, Hedwig." Harry touched Xue Xiao's head, and untied the letter from its lap.This owl was found in a pet shop by Harry in the third month after he came to Diagon Alley. It was almost exactly the same as his little girl who died in the confrontation with the Death Eaters. He bought it without hesitation and named her Hedwig.

The letter was from Nick Flamel.Harry's friendship with such a legendary figure was all thanks to Dumbledore's help.After working in the bookstore for a year, Harry began to write to several masters of magic in the world to ask about time magic, and Dumbledore was one of them.This is the first time Harry has contacted Dumbledore actively since he came to this time and space.

It's not that Harry didn't want to visit the greatest white wizard in the past, but his attitude towards Dumbledore has been very contradictory until now.On the one hand, Harry trusts and admires Dumbledore unconditionally, but in this era Dumbledore doesn't know Harry's existence at all, he is just the transformation teacher and vice-principal of Hogwarts; on the other hand, Harry Although Li forgave Dumbledore's betrayal, he unconsciously began to be wary of this very keen wizard.Therefore, Harry only showed the respect and humility that a junior should have in his letter to Dumbledore, without mentioning anything other than time magic.After several letters and letters, Dumbledore encouraged this studious young man to write to Nick Flamel, and kindly told Hallelmay that he would like to have such an enthusiastic junior to bother him.

Tom looked back when he heard Hooper calling Harry, and saw Harry hurried to the front desk, knowing that Harry would not come to investigate the matter of peeking at the books in the store, he quietly vomited at the man's back Sticking out his tongue, he sat down in a well-lit corner that wasn't easily spotted by Harry and continued reading that interesting book, soon forgetting about his surroundings again.Suddenly, a cry of surprise interrupted him.Tom raised his head in surprise, and at the same time subconsciously quickly closed the book and hid it behind him, only to realize that he was not caught by Harry again, so he poked his head out from behind the bookshelf carefully.I saw Harry holding a piece of parchment in his hand, smiling brightly.

What good happened?Tom stood up suspiciously, put the book on the shelf closest to him, and walked towards the door of the store.

"...I can't believe it's true!" Harry held the letter he just received in his hand, looking very excited, "11 years, 11 years! None of the experiments I have done have succeeded ..."

"But the world is not peaceful now." Hooper looked at the excited Harry with some worry, "Little Tom still needs your care."

"Tom will go to Hogwarts in September, and the school will ensure his safety. And Tom is so good, he can live a good life alone." Harry said, not noticing that the boy who was approaching him stopped suddenly He stopped, and his face lost his blood in an instant after hearing Harry's comment, "It won't take long, it's just to find a few people. Mr. Hooper, I'm so happy!"

Harry excitedly rumpled his not so neat hair into a bird's nest.Hooper found the boy standing quietly in the shadow of the bookshelf. Seeing Tom's expression, he must have heard Harry's words.

He will leave me one day.Tom used to say this to the old man, frustrated and sad.Hooper is a good-tempered elder and Tom's only friend.

"Harry, are you leaving?"

Harry turned around, and the black-haired boy was standing a few steps away from him asking questions, his obsidian-like pupils were staring straight at him, with a trace of rare fear hidden in his eyes, but Harry, who was in a state of excitement, did not find.He nodded to Tom, still smiling.

Tom's heart began to beat faster, not from excitement but from fear.Usually as soon as Tom appeared, the smile on Harry's face would shrink, but today Harry smiled brightly at himself, and even messed himself up like that Alex who always liked to spoil other people's appearance hair: "Yes, Tom, I'm going on a long trip."

"You intend to go alone?" Tom demanded eagerly.Tom dreamed of going to Hogwarts, which was every underage wizard's dream.But if Harry had to abandon himself because of this, Tom would rather not go to school, "Don't take me like before?"

The smile on Harry's face restrained a little: "You are going to Hogwarts to go to school, there is no better school than there."

"But..." Tom couldn't express his worry.Although Harry was his godfather, sometimes he looked at himself as if he was looking at something annoying, as if he was about to get rid of his burden in the next second.Tom knew that Harry was studying time magic, and Harry had given Tom a single room since they moved into an apartment four years ago, and he didn't allow Tom to set foot in his room.Tom can often see Harry reading books related to time when he is not working, both magic books and Muggle books. After returning to the apartment at night, he often studies magic circles or alchemy, and does not sleep until late at night.Tom knew that Harry would leave him suddenly one day, but he didn't expect it to come so suddenly.

Harry's face was still filled with a smile of joy from the heart. Normally, Tom would feel very happy because Harry was happy, but at this time Tom was not happy at all.

"I should make some preparations." Seeing that Tom didn't continue, Harry turned to Hooper again. "To be honest, I can't wait..."

Tom, who was left out in the cold, stood quietly for a while, then quietly turned and left.Hooper watched with concern as the boy disappeared behind the bookshelf, but Harry didn't notice the distraught expression on Tom's face when he turned around.

Tom didn't say another word all afternoon.Harry, who was in a great mood, kept busy humming in the kitchen.Tom simply cleaned the room as usual and waited with a spell book in his hand, but he didn't read a word.For today's dinner, Harry played the highest level of his culinary skills for many years, but his mood has a great impact on his appetite. Tom glanced at Harry's big mouthfuls of food, and he swallowed a mouthful of the perfectly grilled steak. not go down.

Harry won't let me go.Reluctantly, Tom picked up the knife and fork and slowly cut something on his plate, when he heard a small voice whispering softly in his left ear.

But you know how much he hates you.Another voice sounded in the right ear, as if it was his own tone when mocking other children.

Harry doesn't hate me!The voice in the left ear raised the volume in protest.

No?Have you ever seen him smile at you?Has he ever praised your progress?Why does his smile disappear when he sees you?Why does he sometimes look at you that way?Another voice sneered coldly.

He is my godfather, and I have been living with him!

Don't kid yourself, you know you're a burden to Harry, and sooner or later he'll leave you.

Harry is my kin!

Yeah yeah, it's normal to have such wishful thinking, because you have no other relatives, you are an orphan.

The knife and fork in Tom's hand fell on the dinner plate, making a crisp and loud impact.

"What's wrong?" It was only then that Harry noticed that Tom was as white as a sheet of paper, and that the contents of his plate were almost completely untouched.

"Harry." Tom raised his head and looked directly into the green eyes behind the glasses, trying his best not to let his voice tremble, "Do you hate me?"

This was a question Tom had thought about for a long time but never dared to ask.A flash of emotion that Tom couldn't understand flashed in Harry's eyes, and he put away his smile, the expression on his face was hard to fathom.

"Why do you have such strange thoughts?" There was no emotion in Harry's voice.

"Because..." Tom paused and clasped his hands under the table, "I think you don't like me. You adopted me because I was my godfather. If I have any other relatives, I think you... You probably won't want me."

Harry frowned.Tom suddenly felt regretful, clenched his fists tightly, and lowered his head to avoid the scrutiny of those green eyes.Harry's first reaction was disbelief. He never thought that Tom would have such thoughts about him, and he was completely unaware that his attitude towards Tom was so bad that this somewhat precocious boy came to such a conclusion.In Harry's view, he was just being strict with Tom. After all, in the future time and space, Tom, who had changed his name to Voldemort, killed his parents and many good people. I love this kid from the bottom of my heart.And the well-behaved and sensible Tom is a child who is good at hiding his inner thoughts. He always acts more than words, and rarely speaks out what he thinks.Although living together day and night made Harry very familiar with what Tom's every behavior represented, but he had never heard of his deepest fear.

Harry didn't answer for a long time.He really hates me, Tom thought desperately, feeling like his guts had gone somewhere.

"I don't hate you." Harry said suddenly, his voice steady and firm, "It's not that you don't have other relatives, and I didn't say I didn't want you."

Tom looked up quickly and stared at him dumbfounded: "Really?"

"Are you suspecting that I'm lying to you?" Harry asked back.Tom shut his mouth immediately, and slowly lowered his head.Although Harry's tone was cold, Tom felt as if his guts were coming back: he knew Harry never lied to himself.Harry finished his portion of steak without a word.Seeing Harry get up to serve dessert, Tom opened his mouth to ask Harry about his relatives who are still alive, but saw that Harry had no expression on his face, knowing that Harry would not continue to answer his question, he picked it up again. cutlery.For the rest of the time, the two of them didn't speak, and there was only the slight sound of the knife and fork touching the plate on the table.

After dinner Harry put on his apron and stood at the sink doing the dishes.Tom looked at Harry's indifferent back anxiously, not knowing whether he should speak or not.Although Harry said that he didn't hate himself and wouldn't want him, Tom felt that the invisible crack between him and Harry was getting deeper and deeper.Harry kept a lot of things from him, Harry's research, Harry's thoughts, the content of the letter that made Harry mad and happy, and his own life experience.Tom only knows that Harry is his mother's friend, his mother died of dystocia, and Harry is his godfather, Harry never mentions about Tom's father, nor does he answer Tom's other questions about himself and his parents ... Tom knew that he had no right to ask Harry's affairs, but he still unconsciously regarded Harry as his role model from the bottom of his heart.There was no spell he didn't know, no rune he didn't know, and there was no problem he couldn't solve.

After finishing packing, Harry took off his apron and turned around. Seeing that Tom was still standing in the kitchen with his head down, wondering what he was thinking, he sighed and walked in front of him: "Tom."

Tom looked up in surprise, not noticing that Harry was already in front of him.The boy looked at the man with some anxiety, but found that the expression on his face was very gentle, which made him slightly relieved.

"I'm sorry," Tom whispered.

Harry shook his head, bent down and put his hands on Tom's shoulders: "You don't need to apologize to me, Tom. I won't leave until you go to Hogwarts, and I won't abandon you after that, even if I'll be watching you when you're 17 years old. I'm going to watch you grow up. I'm going to see what you're going to be. You're going to do a lot, Tom. I'm going to see what you can achieve. Such a height. Until then, I won't leave you."

Tom stared into the green eyes behind the glasses, and Harry didn't look like he was lying.Tom and Harry rarely had such exchanges, which made Tom feel ashamed of his little worries, and for a while became at a loss as to how to answer them.After a while, Tom slowly began to express his deepest fear: "I'm still scared."

"Scared?" Harry was a little surprised.Tom was not a timid child, he was not afraid of the dark or ghosts, and Harry hadn't seen Tom be afraid of anything since he met the Norwegian Ridgeback when he was six years old.

Tom nodded, then frowned and looked away, admitting that his timidity made Tom unhappy with him.Harry touched the boy's cheek, and said softly, "When did our Tom start to be scared? You will go to Hogwarts in September, and you will have classes with many children of the same age that you don't know. You will Will be the best of them all. I will only visit a few people during this time, not completely leave you."

"You really won't want me?" Tom was still not sure.

"No." Harry answered patiently.

The expression on Tom's face finally eased, and the corners of his mouth curled up in embarrassment.