#180 in Fanfiction || #1 in Hermione ||
In the language of literature, there exists a seemingly-concrete, antonymous relationship between good and evil, light and dark, hero and monster. And yet, we often disregard the transition from one to anothe...
"And you won't get anywhere with a hostile approach," Tom almost hisses under the falsified pretense of courtesy and prompting Bill's jaw to clench tight.
Harry, sensing the tension between the two, moves from his melancholy delay and steps between Bill and Tom, looking back to the latter. "Bill, Tom is on our side. He is as passionate about defeating You-Know-Who as we all are, if not more."
"More? But 'Arry, he killed your parents!" Fleur expresses, her accent even thicker with the revelation and tension of the room. Bill watches Tom with a steady eye, looking for any clued response to the boy's identity. And yet, Tom's hidden his intent from more keen eyes.
"He did a lot worse to me," Tom answers, the fact being of true sentiment. Sure, Harry was made an orphan and unloved nephew by Voldemort's ways, having to constantly face this grown man in battle. And yet, Voldemort has taunted the soul of Tom Riddle from his first memory, a whole eighteen years before he was freed.
Tom steps back from the conversation, next to Hermione and Ron with a cold expression on his pretty face. It's a visage that screams of conclusion, that no new information will be gleaned from the boy within this time. Sighing impatiently, Bill gestures for Harry to follow him towards the goblin's room, followed by the remainder of the Golden Trio and one more.
Like all things in the quaint house, the door to Griphook's room is white, and the room itself, visualized at the turned nob, is even brighter. The Weasley brother lets the four in with an unsteady eye paid towards the goblin and Tom, unfitting for their sides. But upon Harry's incessant glance, Bill departs the room.
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"How are you?" Harry questions Griphook with some sense of propriety and actual concern, though it is far less for this creature than it is for any creature within this household.
"Alive," the goblin responds mundanely, not looking the least interested in this conversation that will be directed towards Harry's purposes in this war.
"You probably don't remember--"
"--that I showed you to your vault the first time you visited Gringotts?" Griphook is soon to cut in under petty assumptions of his memory. "Even amongst goblins, you are famous, Harry Potter." It comes as a surprise to all four as the goblin turns to the previous Dark Lord himself, "As are you, Tom Marvolo Riddle."
Under the eyes of the goblin, Tom freezes momentarily, never having met this goblin in his time, though he supposes it is possible that his later self met Griphook. But, overcoming the shock, Tom's mouth twists into a nasty sneer of the 1940s Dark Lord, a look that Harry and Ron have yet to see in their time together.
Leaning down into the goblin's face, one that did not cringe away at Bellatrix's knife, Tom is particularly horrifying as he threatens, "You would do best to keep this knowledge to yourself. I may be on the righteous side now, but that does not mean I lack the conviction to hurt you greatly if you hurt us."
