[HP] Dearest Enemy

This is the second time for Irene to come to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office. The last time I came, Harry was still teaching at Hogwarts.The layout of the office is exactly the same as before, except that the person behind the desk is the former president of the male student union she is familiar with.

"Good morning, Erin," Tom greeted her lightly.

Irene bowed restrainedly; "Good morning, Professor Riddle."

"This is just a private meeting, you don't need to call me Professor." Tom said while making tea, "You can just call me Tom, please sit down, Erin."

Eileen sat down at the place Tom had designated, and Tom put a cup of tea in front of her.

"I hope I didn't disrupt your plans for the weekend." Tom poured himself a cup of tea and sat down opposite the girl. "Are you still going to Professor Dumbledore's remedial Transfiguration today?"

"Yes." Irene replied nervously, "I want to study until the end of the day."

"Although I am not your Transfiguration professor, I know that your Transfiguration performance is not much different from before." The black-eyed young man tapped the table regularly with his clean and fair fingers, "Apart from potions, you have other homework. The grades are basically in the pass to good range, including Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Eileen lowered her eyes to the ground and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"I'm not blaming you." Tom slowed down, "I've always admired your enthusiasm for potions, but it has affected your grades in other subjects. Ah, that doesn't seem right to me, but I I don't think Professor Slughorn is going to give you any more advice on that subject anymore. I don't think you've been to any of his parties since this term?"

"Yes." Irene clutched the corner of her clothes tightly, her voice getting lower and lower, "He heard that I was going to take tutoring with Professor Dumbledore after transfiguration, so he stopped inviting me."

Tom chuckled: "You know what kind of person he is. So how much do you think Professor Dumbledore's tutoring has helped you?"

Irene couldn't answer a word under the gaze of those black eyes that could see through people's hearts like Dumbledore's blue eyes.When Travers called her to Tom's office viciously, Irene vaguely guessed that Tom might already know that his tutoring at Dumbledore's was just a cover, and the question he just asked was just to elicit his own words.

"actually……"

"Actually, you're not studying Transfiguration at all." Tom interrupted her unhurriedly, "Everyone knows that Dumbledore prefers Gryffindor House, and he doesn't care if a Slytherin's grades are good or bad."

"Professor Dumbledore is not such a person." Irene retorted softly, "His guidance is very helpful to me."

Tom sneered: "That's right. If I remember correctly, you should go to him every Saturday afternoon for tutoring, that is, you have an appointment this afternoon."

Eileen nodded, eyes still downcast.

"But as far as I know," said Tom, "you were not at school during your tutoring, and I have never heard that Transfiguration must be studied outside school. So please tell me, during the tutoring time, you Where did you go?"

Erin opened her mouth.

"I don't want you to lie to me, Irene," said Tom softly.

"I promised Professor Dumbledore to keep this matter a secret." Irene was silent for a long time before answering in a voice not much louder than a whisper.

The black-eyed young man sighed, walked up to Irene and squatted down: "Dumbledore asked you for help, so he asked you for help in the name of making up lessons, right?"

"Sorry, Professor Riddle, I can't..."

Irene stopped talking, and Nagini climbed up the chair at some point, and rubbed the back of her hand with her cold body.Irene stared at her stubbornly, not daring to move at all.

"Nagini, don't mess around." Tom ordered in Parseltongue, and Nagini reluctantly climbed off the railing and coiled up beside Tom.

"Sorry to scare you." Tom patted Erin's hand, "Are you okay?"

Erin turned her eyes away from the snake, swallowed, and nodded with a pale face.

"So can you go on with my question?" Tom asked softly.

Erin looked at the snake for a while, then nodded slightly.

"You're not actually keeping a secret for Dumbledore, you're keeping a secret for Harry." Tom whispered, "Harry is in poor health and has to take potions, and you're the one who made them. I know it's you , Irene, you don’t need to argue, you should know that the prescription of that medicine was improved by me. If you ask Slughorn for help, he will not only ask questions, but he will also use this medicine to obtain a certificate from the Wizarding Association. Come back here for some fame. You are the only one in the whole school who can perfectly concoct that potion, except for Slughorn."

Erin stared intently at her twisted hands, her lips pursed tightly.

Tom sighed: "Perhaps Travers told you that I was looking for Harry? Even in Slytherin House, not many people know about it, but you must know. I'm worried about Harry, He has a curse that cannot be undone, and he will not live long."

What?Irene raised her head in surprise, and saw the black-eyed young man staring at her right hand, as if talking to herself.

"I wanted to use black magic to save him, but he didn't want to. You might be surprised, but Harry hates black magic." Tom clenched his hands into fists, "he doesn't like me using black magic to prolong his life, so he leave me."

"Is there no other way to save him?" Irene asked in a low voice. After asking, she suddenly came to her senses and quickly lowered her head again.

"No," said Tom sadly, gently squeezing Irene's hand. "You've seen Harry, and you know where he is, don't you?"

Erin shook her head, not daring to meet Tom's eyes.

"You must know where he is. But I won't make you break your oath," said Tom. "I just want you to tell Harry for me that I miss him."

Missing him makes my viscera ache, I want to see him again, hug him once, tell him how much I miss him, and blame him for leaving without saying goodbye.Tom resisted the pain in his chest as if it was about to tear, gently squeezed Irene's hand, and slowly stood up.

"You can go, Miss Prince." Tom turned his back on her and tidied things on his desk.

There was a rustle of robes moving behind him, but it stopped soon.

"Professor...Tom, can I ask you a question?" Irene's timid voice came from behind.

"Ask." Tom stopped what he was holding and turned around.

"Harry... How important is Professor Potter to you?"

Tom thought for a moment, then answered.

"His life is worth my soul in exchange."

Tom's expression was very calm, as if he was just explaining a certain law in a textbook and answering a very common question, but his tone was so firm that no one could shake it.

"I'm sorry, I asked something unnecessary." Irene looked away with reddened cheeks, "Goodbye...Tom."

"Goodbye."

Tom smiled wryly at the back of Irene who was almost escaping, and looked at his right hand.The black magic that can track people's whereabouts has been successfully marked in Irene's hands, and Tom is [-]% sure that Dumbledore will not be unable to find out the tracking spell.If there were no accidents, I would probably be able to see Harry tonight.

Maybe your life is not worth the whole world in exchange, but it is definitely worth my soul for it, but you don't know it, it belongs to you.

Irene did not tell Dumbledore that she had met Tom in the morning.Dumbledore has been very busy, and Irene is almost not sure whether Dumbledore will take her to see Harry today.However, Dumbledore sent her to Godric's Hollow through the office fireplace before leaving in a hurry.Erin had been talking to Harry all afternoon, feeling a little uneasy.But nothing unusual happened until she left.

Before leaving, Erin hesitated whether to tell Harry that Tom already knew about her presence, but finally swallowed the words from her lips back into her stomach.Harry had already explained to her roughly what happened between the two of them under her questioning, and being able to talk to people made him feel much better, and Irene couldn't bear to spoil his rare good mood.

After dinner Harry went upstairs to the study to write in his diary.It seems that there are not many days when he can walk around freely. It is just that the cold weather makes him unable to go out, and the confusion of consciousness has become more and more frequent recently. Every time he wakes up, he can't remember what happened .In fact, the potion had no effect, and increasing the dose could not prevent his body from weakening day by day, but Irene had always worked hard to help him make the medicine, and Harry couldn't bear to refuse her and Dumbledore's kindness.

I heard from Eileen that Tom did a good job at Hogwarts, but I don't know how long he can stay in school.That kid was never reconciled to being inferior to others, and he would realize his ambitions and aspirations as soon as he had the right opportunity.It is impossible for him to restrain him in the future, so he can only ask Dumbledore to take care of the child for him and prevent him from becoming Voldemort.

Tom, you must not make a mistake.Dumbledore is different from me. Once you become that person, he will mercilessly obliterate your existence. I don't want that.

The sky gradually turned black, and a young man with black hair and black eyes wore a dark cloak, showing a tall and thin figure from the shadows, staring at the dilapidated hut in front of him.This place looks like it has been abandoned for at least 20 years. The lack of glass, crooked wooden doors, and decayed fences all indicate that there is no way for people to live here. If you walk in, will it look different?

Waves on the house tell Tom that the house belongs to a wizard, and a spell marked on Irene shows that this is where Harry hides.Tom laughed at himself, he didn't expect Harry to be hiding in such an obvious place, and he was actually deceived by such a simple blindfold, it was his own carelessness.

Tom took out his wand and flicked it a few times, and detected a very powerful protective spell on the house, but it was not impossible to break.It took him nearly an hour to dismantle the deadliest defenses, and then pushed open the worm-eaten wooden gate of the fence and stepped into the overgrown garden.

Tom closed the wooden door carefully, and the garden changed at once, revealing its true colors in a few seconds.Wild roses and begonias grew in front of the fence, along with some of the magical plants that can be found everywhere on the Hogwarts grounds.The wild rose's teeth and claws reminded him of Harry's hair that was always unruly. Tom curled his mouth unconsciously, and looked up to see a dim light from a window upstairs. After a while, he walked onto the clean porch and used The wand opens the door.

Harry closed the diary, let out a long breath, and picked up the wand beside him to cast a spell on the diary.It took him more than three months to write all his memories into this diary, and the one he just finished is the last page.This is just something he wrote for himself. Even if he is on the verge of death, there are some things he doesn't want to forget.Irene's visit put him in a particularly good mood, and he didn't even appear to be confused until now.Harry locked the diary magically and stood up.

Suddenly there was a muffled sound in the corridor, and there was no movement after that. Harry froze for a moment, and quickly grabbed his wand and held it in his hand.The room was very quiet, and Harry listened intently for a while, but couldn't hear anything.

"Kaka, is that you?" Harry asked aloud, but instead of the dutiful house-elf, another voice answered him.

"It's me, Harry."

Harry's eyes widened suddenly, watching the bedroom door slowly open, the wand in his hand almost fell to the ground.

"Good evening," said Tom softly, and went into the room and closed the door.Harry took a step back involuntarily, looking at him in disbelief.

"How did you find this place?" Harry asked in amazement.

"Dumbledore probably felt that he didn't need to protect the house with too much labor-intensive protective magic, so it was relatively easy for me to come in." Tom replied, and he could see that he was very excited.

He took a step forward, and Harry immediately raised his wand and pointed at him: "Stop and answer my question."

"It seems that Irene didn't take my words with me." Tom stopped in his tracks, "I cast a tracking spell on her."

"You know she—"

"Her whereabouts have been suspicious for the past few months, so I talked to her." Tom replied, "Irene didn't know that I put a curse on her. And don't worry about Dumbledore, even if he finds out He cannot arrive immediately. As far as I know, he is presiding over a very important meeting in India."

Tom walked forward as he spoke, and Harry's wand struck him in the chest.

"Stop, Tom, or I'll curse you."

Tom stopped, then took Harry's wand-raising arm and pulled him into his arms.

"I miss you, Harry."