The boy with the peculiar scar wolfed down his meal like a starved man in the desert and if Tom wasn't busy doing the same thing he might have made a snide remark like "Hungry much?" or "Don't let us impede you, eat like your apish relatives taught you, Tarzan"
As he was currently leaning forward to reach dessert, and oh, it had been months since he's tasted chocolate, younger Dumbledore took his plate, a small smile on his rosy lips saying "A hyperactive little boy is the last thing we need". The older Dumbledore was currently in the bathroom.
'Dumbledore you shall rue the day...' Tom thought before a sly, very Slytherin thought crossed his mind.
"Why, thank you, professor. The less time I spend eating the more time I have exploring the house and concocting marvelous plans..."Tom said an impish grin on his face.
"Whatever little scheme you have already brewed in that tiny, wicked mind" younger Dumbledore said before he was interrupted "And it's all thanks to you!"
"You shall cease!" younger Dumbledore bellowed.
It just so happened that at that exact moment, younger Dumbledore entered the kitchen.
"What is going on here?" the old wizard asked authoritatively.
Before anyone else had the chance to respond, Tom answered "Your younger version finally encourages my fancy of becoming a dark wizard"
"How so, my boy?" older Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling in amusement.
"By taking away everything that I love, sir" Tom said in a mourning tone while gesturing to the piece of chocolate cake that the younger Dumbledore had confiscated.
Harry couldn't control his cackles anymore and started laughing uncontrollably while Severus's lips twitched in amusement.
"We wouldn't want you to experience such atrocities, now would we, my boy?" older Dumbledore asked while he too forcefully the cake plate from his younger version and putting it in front of Tom.
Younger Dumbledore looked disapproving and said "You are spoiling him"
"Now, now, children deserve treats every now and then. And since it's his first day here, we should celebrate" older Dumbledore answered.
Tom couldn't help but like the older Dumbledore at that moment and that was a secret he'll take to the grave if he doesn't find immortality first.
After the meal, Tom went to his new room, which was decorated hideously in Gryffindor colors. Well, one had to make due, so the teen ignored the ghastly interior and started thinking about his situation, instead of sleeping.
Older Dumbledore was nice, sickeningly benevolent, Hufflepuff-like gentle, and yet, Tom didn't think he really cared about him. And somehow, he was going to prove it. Surely the old man would stop wanting him if he started acting terrible. All he needed was a practical plan and...the door to his room opened slightly, in stepped Harry.
"Tom, are you sleeping?" the older teenager whispered.
"Now I'm not" Tom whispered back before asking "What do you want?"
Harry smiled before plopping himself on Tom's bed, not a care in the world that he almost stepped on his feet.
"I used to sleep in a spider-infested cupboard and was barely fed by my relatives before Severus adopted me" he said wistfully "I thought people couldn't love me and yet I found love and friendship..."
So Tom's hunch had been right, his relatives were savage primates, yet from the boy's confession, it seems like they were worse. At least gorillas take care of their young. Why the emerald-eyed teen was bearing his heart out to Tom, he had no idea. Didn't he know weakness could be easily exploited?
He couldn't afford to wear his heart on his sleeve and look affected.
"And your tragic life story is supposed to tell me...?" Tom trailed off.
"That if I could be helped so can you. Trust Dumbledore, he really does want to take care of you" Harry said definitively.
"I wouldn't trust Dumbledore as far as I can throw him!" Tom answered stubbornly.
"Well, he doesn't weigh much, plus you have magic" Harry said while smiling stupidly in Tom's opinion.
"I'll leave you to your marvelous plans, your majesty" Harry said in a mocking tone and Tom threw a pillow at him while saying "Begone buffoon!"
He missed.
'Honestly, couldn't he have some privacy!' Tom thought.
Sure, he might use it for fiendish plots but that is only for his own good of course. Now, to find out why Dumbledore had thought him so dangerous, he had to bend the space-time continuum to get him.
Tom tiptoed out of his room when all of a sudden he heard hushed voices in the living.
He hurriedly accioed a glass from the kitchen and held it against the wall.
The Dumbledores were in a heated conversation. Tom could not make out everything. Blah, blah, blah, ...consequences of loving him, yadda yadda yadda... needs us in his life, not like Gellert and a very confusing, very unfamiliar name, Voldemort.
Theft of death, now that sounded like a very groovy made up name. He felt the uncontrollable need to spell it aloud "Voldemort"
'Could it be my future name? After all, I adore french and have a great ambition of cheating death' Tom thought. It added up yet it all seemed...surreal.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" the greasy-haired man from behind him said before mocking him "Out for a midnight stroll, are you?"
Tom gulped and nodded.
"And your ear just so happened to glue itself to the glass and the glass to the wall" Severus continued while rolling his eyes.
"I was thirsty" Tom defended himself in vain.
"Oh? Let's see if the headmaster rewards your endless thirst for personal information with the metaphorical birch or, if he gives you lemon drops, shall we?"
