the gift of fear (tomarry) (harry x death)

all i wanna do is find the lord

Here's what Tom thinks has happened: Harry has been marking people. He's figured that much. It is the smaller, minute details that catch him.

He knows, and knew, before all this, that Harry takes -- or took, given how Tom put this whole business basically out of commission -- house elves that he knows are trustworthy and sends them off to a wizarding family, Dark or Light; Harry's not one for prejudice. The house elves do their work. The house elves return to Harry, using a ritual that has something to do with their own blood, nails, and hair. The house elves then keep their mouths shut -- either not to scare new recruits or to keep their plan out of rogue house elves' prying ears isn't clear.

That is what he knows. What he now speculates: the mission these elves are sent on. Because the more and more Tom looks, the more and more Tom finds -- every other halfblood or pureblood has a small mark on their hand in the shape of a lightning bolt. When Tom asks after it, they usually shrug and say, "Must have tripped and cut myself at some point," as if they are, as a collective, unsure exactly how the scar came to be. Tom bets that if he got a good look at their parents, they'd be bearing the same mark.

Which means that these elves are sent to mark wizards -- likely with a ritual or a spell or a curse or something of the like -- and then sent back. Do they erase their former owner's memories first? It surely can't get out that every one of the famous Harry Potter's elves keep escaping. Yes, they alter their owner's memories, do their little magic on them, and then leave.

So now the small details. Or, rather, the big ones -- what is this mark for? Why does Harry want it on every wizarding man, woman, and, apparently, child? What does it mean ?

Tom is at a dead end. He is also so curious, that Ravenclaw nature bubbling up inside him, that he can't help his next moves.

He goes to Professor Dumbledore.

He waits until after class, until after everyone has cleared out, and stands, awkwardly, in front of Dumbledore's desk. Here comes the hard part. The talking.

"Your injuries are looking better, my boy," notes Dumbledore, looking endeared and, to his credit, patient.

Tom clears his throat. "Yeah. They're feeling better. Say, Professor..." How does one begin this? He takes a deep breath. How does one begin? Well, he supposes; with Voldemort. "I looked into Voldemort. The Dark -- Dark Lord I mentioned."

Dumbeldore tilts his head, showing no outward signs of interest, but Tom knows better. He knows he is just as curious as Tom is. "Me as well, I admit."

"I didn't find anything," blurts Tom. "No records of any sort of uncredited destruction -- no bombings without reason -- no record of his name, nothing. It's like he doesn't exist."

Dumbledore nods. "My findings were similar."

Tom conjures a chair and slumps into it. "What do you make of it?"

"Have you ever heard of a man named Gellert Grindelwald?" Tom's eyes go wide and he nods. "Well, I'd been hearing they're at odds... something about Harry being in too convenient a place at the wrong time... and I fear this Voldemort thing brings it all full circle."

"That's..."

"Far fetched, hm?" Dumbledore smiles. "Perhaps. But perhaps also it is right on the nose. Voldemort is Harry Potter's name for Gellert Grindelwald. He battled him during his time at Hogwarts and the grudge carries on."

Something about this theory is still lacking. "What do you make of the Triwizard Tournament, then?"

Dumbledore shrugs. "I assume we were mistaken, given that you believe, wholeheartedly, that Harry Potter is anything but a liar. There have been all sorts of clubs at Hogwarts throughout the ages. Perhaps he was just participating in one of those."