The Last Goodbye

His suitcase followed.

"Wait...wait a minute!" Quint called him from behind. Harry turned around.In the sunset, the red-haired boy's face was red all the way to the tip of his freckled nose, "I... My name is Quint Weasley, please don't forget me!"

The familiar surname made the young wizard stop, although only for a short moment. Quint saw the green eyes of the young man dyed into the gold in the setting sun, and the man's clothes disappeared outside the gate of the orphanage in the next second, leaving only a familiar voice lingering around him.

I will remember you, Quint Weasley.said the voice.Magic is not forgotten.

"What's wrong with you, Quint?" Caroline stepped forward, looking at the red-haired boy staring blankly at the sunset, "Why are you crying?"

"No...nothing," Quint wiped the tears away, "I just think...Mr. Potter he...he..."

"...He is like a magician who fell from the sky." Caroline smiled gently, facing the golden sunset.

The two walking in tandem soon came to an empty street. Harry suddenly pulled the person in front of him from behind and dodged into the narrow alley next to him, and with a whoosh Riddle felt his feet leave the ground.Light and shadow rushed past, and in an instant they were standing on a noisy street.

The experience of showing his entourage that he had never had before made the little devil dizzy, but before he could recover his thoughts, he was mercilessly pulled away by the other party.The cobblestone-paved long street twists and turns, and there are many pedestrians around them. A wooden sign not far away has the words "Diagon Alley" written on it.

Riddle was dragged into a hotel by Harry before he could take a closer look.The youth completed the check-in procedures as quickly as possible.The two went up the stairs one after the other under the gaze of the elf at the front desk, without any conversation from beginning to end.They quickly entered the room like this, and the young man skillfully locked the door with a silent spell, and then looked at Tom Riddle who was always smiling not far away.

"Shall we talk?"

Green eyes responded with a superficial smile.

"Yes, Guardian."

Black Eyes returned the same expression.

"Your previous illness was faked."

"How is it possible... It's just that the window was left open to catch the cold."

"You left the window open on purpose."

"That's it."

"why?"

"Why?" The black-haired boy repeated the other person's words, with a smile almost overflowing from his eyes, "I thought it was obvious... I need a better guardian, someone like me, right?"

I am not like you. Harry didn't say the words.But he really didn't expect that the kid would use his body to play tricks - if he didn't show up in time, the other party would probably die there.The Savior shook his head inwardly. The child's behavior did not fit his understanding of Voldemort's almost paranoid pursuit of eternal life.But taking a step back, he himself did a lot of ridiculous things when he was ten years old...

"I thought I was unique." Riddle's attention was obviously not on the new guardian.He walked to the window and quietly watched the busy traffic outside the glass, "But this is very good...Thanks to you, who took me away from that stupid world."

That world is not stupid.But Harry Potter felt foolish to trust the Dark Lord himself. "Did you...did you go back late on purpose that day?" The green eyes became more and more gloomy.He didn't think that with the cognitive level of a ten-year-old wizard, he would know that he had cast a tracking spell on him, but it would be too far-fetched to say that this series of events was just a coincidence.

"You mean the day I was beaten?" Riddle shrugged nonchalantly, "That's commonplace, you'll find out sooner or later."

"So you do all this..."

"It's all to make you sympathize with me, yes."

The dark-eyed boy looked away from Diagon Alley.Their eyes met, and Harry could see the sternness and shrewdness in the other's eyes that didn't belong to that age.He moved his fingers subconsciously, as if he wanted to tighten a wand that didn't exist.He claimed to be well versed in the Dark Lord's tricks of manipulating people's hearts, but he didn't expect the other party to show such outstanding talent at such a young age - he underestimated his opponent. Riddle watched the other person's gradually gloomy face with great interest, and then smiled and asked his most curious question, "You've been helping me, Mr. Potter. Why?"

Harry didn't answer right away, he wanted to ask himself too!Don't forget your mission - he remembered the words he repeated every morning when he woke up.I haven't forgotten, he said in his mind, I've paid dearly to be here, and that's the only thing that matters in this time and space that isn't mine.

For a brief moment, the two just looked at each other in silence.The afterglow of the setting sun has faded away, and the room is dyed cold by the blue-white sky. Tom Riddle didn't even move his eyebrows. Harry believed that the other party could wait forever.No matter what age he was, the damned Heir of Slytherin was patient with what he wanted.The green-eyed youth sighed finally, "Because I need you, Tom Riddle."

This is not a lie.

The boy standing by the window didn't move, and a smile that could be called gratified gradually appeared on his pale and delicate face.

"That's great..." After a long while, the boy said slowly, "It's the first time someone said that to me."

The chubby waiter at the Leaky Cauldron Bar had a sweet smile on his face. While serving hot meals, he looked at the skinny boy who was only half the size of a chair with loving eyes, "You should eat more, my Baby." She said sympathetically, then turned to the young man across the table, and sighed approvingly, "Your brother is so cute!"

Harry smiled awkwardly, the blunt Gryffindor was not very good at impromptu lies.But their enthusiastic waiter obviously misunderstood something, she suddenly gave Harry a look that I understand everything - no, he is not my illegitimate child - but before Harry could explain further, the waiter giggled Laughed and walked away.The black-eyed boy glanced at the steaming food on the table, and then looked at the innocent guardian opposite.

"Eat," Harry said casually, not expecting to starve the Dark Lord to death without a spell. Riddle picked up the knife and fork, took another look at Harry, and murmured a thank you when he realized he wasn't looking at him.By the time Harry turned his head, the boy was already eating his food very hard.The Savior looked at the Dark Lord who was trying to eat in silence, and felt that it was impossible to overlap the child's current appearance with the Slytherin descendant he saw in the Pensieve. Tom Riddle did make him feel difficult sometimes, but more often he was just a kid with a stinking face.

Harry picked up the knife and fork, and while he was cutting the slightly burnt smoked chicken leg, he was thinking about what to do next.Although Gryffindor is better at adapting than Slytherin, who likes to make careful plans, it is definitely not like the current reform.He suddenly felt that it was necessary for him to learn from his old opponents how to better execute the plan.Well, first, let him think about explaining to Professor Dumbledore that he was the guardian of the most feared Dark wizard in 50 years...

"I want a new name." A cool voice came from the opposite side, "Is that okay, guardian?" The other party added.Harry, who was engrossed in battling the dried-out chicken legs, was still thinking about his old opponents of Slytherin, and he casually mocked, "What do you want to be called, SalazarSlytherin?"

The other side was silent for a second, then asked, "Who is that?"

Only then did Harry raise his head, and found that the black-eyed boy was staring straight at him. He had completely lost his appetite, "He is one of the founders of my alma mater."

"A very powerful person?"

"A very powerful man."

The other party would know these common senses even if they didn't tell them, so there was nothing to hide. Riddle nodded.He didn't understand the meaning behind the name, but at least he was sure that this was a very powerful person, the founder of Harry's alma mater, someone from the same world as him and Harry. "I like this name." With dark eyes staring at the green one, Riddle asked in a slow but soft tone, "Can I be called Salazar Potter?"

Harry was glad he hadn't eaten, otherwise he might have choked.

"...Why my last name?" Of course, it didn't mean he thought Salazar Riddle or Lord Voldemort were better choices, but he also didn't want Potter's family tree to have a quasi-devil inexplicably. Riddle didn't answer the question, just looked at Harry with night-like eyes.The young man could see a firm request and some indescribable emotion in those eyes.The knife and fork in his hand stopped, and he thought of another thing a little bit out of his mind——TomRi