Two for One

Chapter 4: Deathly Hallows Rip-Off

Death vanishes after the moment of silence, clearly bored with Harry's pathetic attempt at humour. Harry frowns because he didn't even get a goodbye.

"I'm going to take a nap, then think about this with a clearer head," Harry murmurs to himself.

He kicks off his shoes, shifts the information off the floor and onto the kitchen bench before wandering up the steps and face planting into the bed. He wriggles around, peeling off his borrowed robe, but leaves the rest of his clothes on. It's a short nap and then he'll get anything else the house needs from a mixture of muggle stores and Diagon.

He pauses when something pokes him as he bundles up the robe, ready to throw it onto the end of the bed. Harry flips onto his back and searches through it, confused. He appeared in this world with literally nothing so whoever leant him the robe probably left something-

Harry pulls out the elder wand.

Then a ring falls out and onto his face, immediately followed by an invisibility cloak. Harry throws the robe away so he can rip off the cloak. He sits up and looks around for the ring that bounced off his nose, finding it on the pillow.

Harry just takes a moment to stare.

Well, he thought it would be a lot more difficult to get rid to Death, but apparently Fate loves him.

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Somewhere, long ago or perhaps in the distant future, laughter can be heard.

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Harry glances around. "Um, Death?"

The being appears out of thin air and spots the three trinkets. "No, someone else has to get your original three. These are this world's Hallows." And then he calmly disappears again because he does actually have things to do.

Harry groans and collapses back into the bed. He doesn't even know what the Hallows are used for. Sure, he gets In-betweens, but is there really nothing else if he combines them? Technically the items by themselves are more than amazing, but Harry would just really like to go home right now.

He sighs and tucks the three into a bedside drawer before rolling onto his side and trying to sleep. Unfortunately, despite how tired he is, his mind doesn't shut off.

How is he even going to do this? He decided on a whim, when he was still reeling from dying and losing everyone he knew. Of course he clung to the idea of a better world, of course he wanted to fix everything.

So now he's here, nineteen-thirty, apparently owned by the Unspeakables. To be fair, it isn't so bad. He doesn't have to deal with struggling to get money, or anyone trying to kill him, but he does have to deal with the fact that his conscience won't let him rest until Tom Riddle is a good person.

It shouldn't be too hard, though, kind of like teaching the alphabet to a child; this is what you do, this is what you don't do. Try and do this. This is the result you want.

Good boy.

So Harry has a plan, technically, to teach young and hope that the habits stick as Tom grows. If Harry is very lucky, Voldemort won't happen. If the Dark Lord does come, then hopefully he's fighting for the right things.

Harry won't deny that sometimes force is the most efficient route, especially in the Ministry where power makes you heard, but killing everyone is so far past horrific that-

No, Harry can't think like that. It's pointless to describe things with emotion because feelings are so flimsy and easily changed or ignored depending on culture and time and personal opinion. Harry needs to do this logically because someone as intelligent as Tom will respond to hard facts.

No, Tom, killing everyone is wasteful. It's pointless because you might need them someday, even if to just fill in paperwork at the lowest level of the Ministry. The magical population is already so small.

It would probably be best if Harry led Tom through the formative years, the baby ages, but Harry doesn't think he can deal with a baby. Harry picked nineteen-thirty because Tom is young enough to form naïve attachments but old enough that Harry can actively start guiding him instead of waiting.

Harry kind of wishes he picked an earlier time, though.

Tom Marvolo Riddle is a genius. Everyone knows that, and this entire time travel adventure is based on raising the boy to do good and help people, because if someone like Tom puts his mind to it then the wizarding world will enter a golden age of prosperity, whether it wants to or not.

So, there are some very good points as to why Harry picked the time he has but he kind of wants to say no and show up when Tom Riddle sr. meets Merope.

Ron, when he heard the tale, thought both parents of Tom were wrong with what they did. Hermione picked Merope, or at least she felt pity for the woman who tried so hard to keep her son alive despite the horror she faced at home and trying to live on the streets.

Harry can see both perspectives fine, and they both have logical reasons for why they've decided that way. Harry thinks that both parents are victims; Merope due to her family and the desperate, unrequited love that she thought would save her.

Yet he holds more empathy for Tom Riddle sr. For the man who had no choice in his life, who was drugged constantly and sexually assaulted and faced disdain from the townspeople. Harry doesn't blame the man for running when he had the chance, anyone else sure as hell would have too.

Hermione and Ron both think Riddle sr. should have stayed since Merope was pregnant. Maybe Harry would have but he's always been the self-sacrificing sort and any family he has is something to hold onto desperately.

However, in that situation, most people wouldn't care about the child. It's not because they're bad people, it's because they've just been through a horrific experience where they couldn't even trust their own mind. They shouldn't have to stay with their torturer, no matter if there's a child or not.

Logic dictates that Harry picked the right time for the result he wants, but he still feels bad about not going further back and stopping Tom's birth completely, helping Riddle sr.

Maybe one day he'll learn to shut off his 'saving people' thing.

Harry falls asleep without noticing and dreams of a broken woman carving out a man's heart so she can crawl inside and pretend she's whole.