The Last Goodbye

It was short and clear, and at the end he raised his eyes and added, "...so you can understand such a difficult book."

Riddle felt his ears warm slightly, but still put on what he thought was the most indifferent expression on his face.

He returned to the orphanage very late that day, and as soon as he entered, he saw Mrs. Cole standing at the door with a belt.The statue of the Crucified Jesus hung over the heads of the two, looking at them with pity.It seems that it will be more difficult to sneak out in the future, he thought helplessly.

"Where were you before, Mr. Riddle?" Mrs. Cole's voice was cold, without any special emotion.

"I'm at Mr. Potter's bookstore." Riddle said curtly, without further explanation.He knew that Mrs. Cole's punishment was not for his own late return, and there must be another brat who was overwhelmed and exposed his 'diabolical behavior'.

"A lie," the Matron said through clenched teeth. "You stung Billy Stubbs with a wasp, didn't you?"

no. Riddle answered silently in his heart, it must be that idiot who was accidentally stung by a wasp wanted to plant it on himself.

"Why don't you talk, Mr. Riddle?" The woman's voice became colder, her gray eyes fixed on the boy, "Mr. Stubbs' rabbit... was also a good thing you did last time? How did you do it?"

The dark-eyed boy pulled a playful smile, "Who knows."

Mrs. Cole looked at him in disbelief for a while before saying stiffly, "Hold out your hand, if you still want tomorrow's dinner."

This is undoubtedly the most powerful threat to the children in the orphanage who only have this bread every day.

Even a descendant of Slytherin with strong will and magic power cannot resist physical hunger.

Riddle stretched out his left hand and rolled up his sleeve.The pale and slender forearm was exposed to the air, revealing old and new scars.Those scars looked like reddish-brown snakes in the flickering candlelight.There was a crackling sound in the air, and a new scar covered it. Riddle's hand twitched subconsciously, but he didn't even frown. Mrs. Cole whipped him hard again, "Don't use your tricks on other children! Do you hear me!"

There was a swishing sound of the belt passing through the air, Riddle pursed his lips tightly, and his hands in mid-air trembled uncontrollably.The children on the second floor were woken up, but no one dared to make a sound. Quint seemed to want to go downstairs to stop him, but was blocked by Billy, and the two wrestled with each other.When Mrs. Cole's whip was raised again, Riddle glared at the woman - an indescribable force shook the air - and suddenly, with a bang, the gate of the Orphanage flew open.

The two people in the living room turned their heads in shock and saw Harry Potter walking in.

The surrounding air froze for a moment, and the vibration disappeared.

"Hi..." The young writer greeted them with some hesitation.The two people standing under the statue of Christ just stared at the intruder with piercing eyes.

"I saw that the door was unlocked..." Harry scratched his hair sheepishly, as if he had just discovered that it was rude to break into someone's house late at night.He immediately looked at the headmistress with apologetic eyes, "I'm so sorry, I'm here to give Riddle the wages he owes him today." He stretched out his hand from his pocket, with a few pennies lying on his palm, "The bookstore is a bit busy today, it just so happens When I saw him in the yard, I asked him to come and help me, I hope I didn't cause you any trouble..."

is he lying?The dark-eyed boy stared at the intruder.He put down his left hand that was raised in mid-air, but his body was still trembling uncontrollably. Harry had noticed the other's scarred arm a long time ago, but he just glanced at it and said nothing.

"I'll put the money here, so... good night." He said and left a few pennies on the small table at the door, nodded politely, and then walked out the door with a smile.

Harry Potter...

Riddle called softly behind him, but the young man didn't hear him.

--

Author's Note: The pairings are Harry and Riddle and Gindelwald and Dumbledore.Main plot direction, medium-length novel, HE ending, the outline has been drawn up so there will be no pitfalls, monthly updates are guaranteed, and weekly updates are strived for. I hope readers like it.

All kinds of stalks: Do you know where the name of the bookstore comes from.laugh.

words are spells

ICREATE ASIS PEAK

1937

The youngest professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts in the history of Hogwarts, the former savior who defeated the most powerful dark wizard of the time, Harry Potter, whose intestines are green with regret, is lying on the bed tossing and turning at the moment.

The gut-wrenching Gryffindor lion feels like he made a stupid decision, yes, stupid.At the moment when the Tracking Curse resonated, he rushed out the door without thinking.He knew that if he was a second late, Tom Riddle might hurt someone with his magic burst.But magic is not omnipotent after all, so when Harry rushed into the orphanage eager to stop the little devil, he didn't expect the scene he would see next—he intuitively thought that Tom Riddle, who had unstable magic power, would definitely hurt him. Somebody, however, on the contrary, someone was hurting him.He saw the ten-year-old boy's hand raised in mid-air, with countless reddish-brown scars spreading from the palm to the forearm, and the owner of that hand was looking at him in shock, and there was a fleeting moment in his dark eyes that was hard to catch Emotions. Harry didn't have time to distinguish the other person's eyes, his brain was running fast, and his right hand, which was about to pull out his wand, fumbled in his pocket vigorously, and finally found a few coins.

'I see the door is unlocked...'

This is a lie.

'I'm here to pay Riddle what I owe him today...'

This is a lie.

"The bookstore is a bit busy today, I happened to see him in the yard..."

This is a lie.

The always sincere and brave Gryffindor was not good at lying, and he could only pray to Merlin that his flawed excuses would not arouse suspicion - but not a single detail escaped the eyes of the Slytherin heir.

Across the street, Tom Riddle was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling with night-like eyes. Harry Potter, he slightly opened his mouth and spit out this slightly unfamiliar name.There was a burning pain in his left arm, but the boy just turned his body sideways and changed to a more comfortable position.This pain is nothing.He has more and more interesting things to think about now.

Who are you?Why are you helping me?

When he thought about it seriously, he realized that he knew very little about writers.He thought of the other party's green eyes, which looked so harmless and gentle, but every time the two of them were alone, they completely abandoned their fake smiles.His attitude towards himself is also unpredictable, sometimes distant and sometimes very close.Why did he lie to Mrs. Cole?And why do you want to help yourself?Why did he appear at that time so coincidentally?And... how did he open the gate of the orphanage that he personally locked behind him? Riddle's thoughts paused for a moment, and he suddenly realized that the last seemingly most impossible question might be the easiest to answer.Because he himself had easily opened the locked door when he was in confinement - using his innate mysterious power.

He sat up abruptly in the darkness.

Maybe that person is... the same person as me?

The thought made his hair stand on end, not from the cold, but from extreme excitement.The young man clasped his arms tightly in the night, the pain in his flesh was no longer clear, what was clear was the magic power flowing through his whole body, spreading under his skin and shuttling through his blood vessels.He was shaking with excitement.The thin lips evoked a cold and treacherous smile that did not belong to this age.

Great.

he said to himself.

Great.

Harry, who was across the street, shivered in his sleep.

One night, the dream was vague, and the next day the savior found that he had overslept as expected.When it was daylight, the banging on the door woke him up. Harry put on his glasses in a daze, sorting out the difference between dreams and reality in his unclear mind - remember who you are, Harry Potter, remember what your mission is - he seemed to wake up in this world Remind yourself of that every morning.The sunlight cleared his mind, but then he realized that the person who knocked on the door was probably someone he didn't want to see. The young man in his early twenties let out a frustrated whimper from his throat like a boy .

The knocking on the door continued, as if I would not leave until you came. Harry sighed, fully dressed and walked out of the bedroom.Through the glass window, he saw Quint's jumping red hair under the rare blue sky in London.The young man's mood improved immediately.

"Hi! Hi! Mr. Potter!" The big boy at the door looked like a happy sparrow, "I thought you were going on a trip! Give me today's newspaper, it's already 9 o'clock..."

"Sorry." Harry scratched his tangled hair, "I got up late today and didn't go to the publishing house this morning..."

"This is really strange." The red-haired boy shrugged,