What He Grows To Be

Tom Riddle is a frightening coil of darkness, cruelty, and greatness. Changing him is Harry Potter’s only hope for saving the people he loves. Traveling back in time, Harry takes young Tom from the orphanage, but with every year they spend together, Harry's optimism shatters into pieces. Tom still longs for the darkness; his possessiveness is stifling, and he is fixated on Harry to the point of destroying the world just to keep him. Harry has failed; he cannot erase Tom's evil nature. Yet, confronting this pure darkness and extreme love, Harry discovers that he has fallen in love with him. When salvation transforms into desperate obsession, and the hero chooses to embrace the Dark Lord's true nature, Harry and Tom's forbidden love will completely change the course of the future in an unprecedented way. Will he ultimately save the world, or choose to sink into darkness for the sake of his love?

What He Grows To Be

Tom Riddle is a frightening coil of darkness, cruelty, and greatness. Changing him is Harry Potter’s only hope for saving the people he loves. Traveling back in time, Harry takes young Tom from the orphanage, but with every year they spend together, Harry's optimism shatters into pieces. Tom still longs for the darkness; his possessiveness is stifling, and he is fixated on Harry to the point of destroying the world just to keep him. Harry has failed; he cannot erase Tom's evil nature. Yet, confronting this pure darkness and extreme love, Harry discovers that he has fallen in love with him. When salvation transforms into desperate obsession, and the hero chooses to embrace the Dark Lord's true nature, Harry and Tom's forbidden love will completely change the course of the future in an unprecedented way. Will he ultimately save the world, or choose to sink into darkness for the sake of his love?

Rain slashed against the cracked windows of Wool’s Orphanage, the wind howling like a wounded beast. Inside, a boy sat perfectly still on a narrow bed, eyes open, unblinking. Eleven years old, dressed in gray, but radiating something ancient and cold. Across the room, Harry Potter stood frozen, heart pounding. This was Tom Riddle—before Hogwarts, before the name Voldemort, before the bloodshed. Just a child. But when those black eyes locked onto his, Harry felt it: recognition. Not innocence. Hunger.

"You’ve come back," Tom said, voice soft, almost delighted. "I knew you would."

Harry hadn’t spoken yet. He wasn’t supposed to exist here—not in 1938. But he had come anyway, armed with a Time-Turner and a desperate plan. Save Tom. Change the past. Prevent the war.

"I’m here to take you somewhere safe," Harry said, forcing calm.

Tom smiled, slow and knowing. "There’s only one place I need to be. With you."

A chill crawled down Harry’s spine. This wasn’t rescue. It was the beginning of a possession.