Spur of the Moment

Chapter 19

Note: another memory, very much copied from HBP. Not mine. Don't sue.

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Harry and Severus watched the second memory together the next night. This one didn't relate to the horcruxes, but it was equally important. The memory was of Dumbledore visiting an eleven-year-old Tom Riddle at the orphanage.

Dumbledore told the boy all about being a wizard and Hogwarts. Though Riddle was only eleven and it was impossible to know the boy would one day become Lord Voldemort, there were small signs of trouble. The young Riddle hurt the other children and stole things and was disrespectful to the adults in the orphanage. He had been quite disrespectful to Dumbledore as well which had shocked Harry. He had never really seen anyone be disrespectful to the headmaster, not a student anyways. Even Severus was respectful, even when he argued, talked back, and completely insulted the old man.

Riddle didn't believe Dumbledore right away about magic and Hogwarts, first thinking he was a doctor taking him away to a place for crazy people. Not until, at least, Dumbledore showed his magic by setting a wardrobe on fire, but not burning any of the items inside. When Dumbledore had suggested that he would send someone to bring Riddle to Diagon Alley, the boy immediately protested, saying he could do it himself. Even with the way Riddle had been as a child, Harry had difficulty believing Riddle and Voldemort were one and the same.

Now that he was seeing more of Voldemort's past, Harry couldn't help but compare their lives. They were so similar and Harry was anything but pleased with the revelation.

"Either you have taken a fancy to doing homework or you are thinking. I much prefer the former, in all honesty," Severus said and Harry looked up from the book in his lap. "The latter has proven to be dangerous and a pain in the arse many times."

"You are such a git, do you know that?" Harry said matter-of-factly.

"You tell me often enough so it's hard to forget." Severus smirked.

"The rest of the students tell you too," Harry pointed out.

"You're the only one that tells me to my face, besides Draco," Severus said and Harry hummed in agreement.

"It's about time someone did." Harry shrugged.

"So, what has your focus if not your homework?" Severus asked, moving away from the bookshelf and sitting on the sofa.

"Thinking about the memory last night," Harry said simply and Severus raised an eyebrow.

"What about it? We talked at length about it last night," Severus said.

Harry nodded. "I know. It's not really the memory itself, it's more Voldemort and his past."

"That was the memory, Harry," Severus said and Harry rolled his eyes.

"That's not what I mean and you know it." Harry glared and Severus smirked. "Our lives are so similar, I can't help compare them."

"Why in Merlin's name would you compare yourself to Voldemort? You are nothing alike." Severus frowned.

"But we are! That's the thing. Look at our pasts. Neither of us have had parents. We both grew up somewhere terrible. Hogwarts had been home to both of us. The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. Last year, I swore I was becoming evil, becoming like him. How I haven't yet is completely beyond me," Harry ranted.

"Because you are stronger. The two of us have similar childhoods as well, but you have always been stronger. You have stayed good while I became a Death Eater and while Riddle became the darkest wizard in history," Severus said.