There was a moment's silence between the elderly man and the young boy.
"How do you do Tom?", asked the elderly man, as he stretched out his hand toward the boy, stepping out of the shadow, so that his face was bathed in light. Hesitantly, the boy took his hand. Meanwhile, Alex was in shock as he stared at the old man in the plum velvet suit, who by now had drawn up the wooden chair beside Riddle.
'Is that...'
"I am Professor Dumbledore."
In an instant, Alex's question was answered, as he came to an abrupt realisation.
'I'm in Harry Potter.', this single thought left him floored as he considered the millions of implications that this single fact could have. Did thoughts create existence? Or did this world always exist? Did other fictional worlds exist?
Suddenly, another amazing thought struck him, 'I have magic. Magic is real.'
Astonished, he entered deep contemplation, no longer caring for the ongoing conversation, or even the now burning wardrobe.
'I can't believe this. Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore. Magic. They all exist.'
The world he had only thought of as fiction, only real in books, bought to life around him. Despite the proof before him, playing out in front of his very eyes, he was unable to accept it.
At this moment, another staggering idea occurred to him.
'If this is actually the Harry Potter world, then I know everything that's going to happen... I'm practically invincible.'
This realisation imbued him with an overwhelming, ecstatic joy.
Everything that would happen in this world had already been written, preordained by fate, if you will. And Alex already knew everything. The Philosopher's Stone, Professor Quirrel, the Chamber of Secrets, Sirius Black, the Triwizard Tournament... With this knowledge, he could easily rule this world. He could have everything he ever dreamed of... including magic.
Of course by now, he had realised that he had no 'Force', but instead had magic. He was a wizard.
His attention returned to the view before him, where now, Dumbledore was telling Tom Riddle the exact way to Diagon Alley, from the orphanage, before handing him a white envelope, that contained his list of equipment.
Ask for Tom the barman — easy enough to remember, as he shares your name —"
Riddle gave an irritable twitch, as though trying to displace an irksome fly.
"You dislike the name 'Tom'?"
"There are a lot of Toms."
Suddenly, Alex's vision swirled and the world seemed to blur into whiteness. All of a sudden, he found himself back inside his own body, kneeling on the floor, Christian's passed out form laying in front of him.
Before he could move, a massive wave of fatigue abruptly washed over his body, sending him spiralling into unconsciousness.
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Alex came to, hours later, laying on a soft bed and surrounded in a quilt.
He was back in his room, the once unfamiliar walls now seemed normal to him. As he sat up on his bed, he recalled what had just been revealed to him. Magic. Wizards. It was all real. And he was one of them. He couldn't believe it.
'Now that I know where I am, my plans need changing. I need to learn magic. I need to get to Diagon Alley.'
With this, he jumped out of his bed.
'Dumbledore told Riddle exactly how to get to the Leaky Cauldron from the orphanage. All I need to do is follow his instructions, and get to Charing Cross Road. Then I can enter Diagon Alley.'
'But I can't.'
He stopped in his tracks as he thought of this. He was a child of only four years old. It wouldn't be possible to get to Diagon Alley, or to interact with the wizarding world unmolested and without suspicion.
A million ideas ran through his head, as he plotted and planned. This revelation had changed everything, there was now so much more out there, so much more to learn, so much more to discover. An entire world of magic. It was a veritable treasure trove just waiting for him to find.
'I'm much too young, and I don't have any money. Even if I could get to Diagon Alley, I wouldn't be able to buy anything. I have to save money and plan first. It'll probably be years before I can even attempt to get there.'
'We only get a small amount of pocket money at the orphanage, I'll have to save as much as I can.'
As this thought passed through his mind, he was suddenly interrupted by a shocked voice.
"Alex! What are you doing up?", called Miss Price, worry evident in her voice, "We found you and Christian on the floor, in the playroom. Are you okay? Did he hurt you? He won't tell us what happened."
Bombarded by questions, fired out at a rapid rate, Alex was unsure of what to answer.
"I'm feeling... fine, Miss Price. You don't need to worry."
Although still looking worried, she said, "That's good then. Come with me though, Mr Bishop said he wants to see you when you wake up."
She walked towards Bishop's office, while holding Alex's hand. Soon they arrived at a large, old-looking, wooden door. As Miss Price slowly approached the door, Alex heard a faint, soft voice coming from the room.
"Can you tell me what happened? You seem scared. Don't worry, nothing can hurt you here."
Miss Price slowly approached the door and knocked, "Mr. Bishop? Alex's awake. I've bought him to talk to you."
The voices stopped.
"Come in.", Mr Bishop's deep voice called.
As the thick wooden door swung open, Alexander's view opened up to Mr Bishop's office.
In front of Bishop, sat Christian, who looked lifeless and sluggish. Yet the moment Alex walked in, seemed to have seen a lethal predator enter the room. His once spiritless form now became tense, his eyes widened, and his breathing became slightly faster.
Mr Bishop clearly saw these changes, and seemed to freeze, his eyes glazed over as he seemed to go into a reverie.
"Mr. Bishop?"
"..."
"Mr. Bishop?"
It took Miss Price a few calls to break Bishop out of his trance. His eyes darted around the room, before locking on to Alex's face, fear in his eyes. He soon composed himself, but if someone observed closely, there was still subdued terror in his gaze whenever he looked at Alex.
"O-oh, Miss Price. You can leave us now... Alex, take a seat."
As Miss Price left the room, Bishop observed Christian and Alex. One was extremely tense, as if his greatest nightmare was right in front of him, and Mr Bishop realised it probably was.
The other, Alex looked guilty as he stared at Christian, but Bishop didn't believe that, you could never tell what they were feeling.
In his mind the figure of Alex and... him... seemed to merge with one another. No one could never tell with him either... but he definitely never felt guilt. Mr. Bishop didn't want to believe that they were the same, but what had happened now, was so similar to what had happened with that person.
He stared at Alex with caution.
"Can you tell me what happened with you and Christian? We found you both in the playroom. But he…" Bishop hesitated, glancing at Christian's rigid form, "…doesn't want to tell me."
What felt like millions of thoughts surged through Alex's mind. His pulse quickened. He couldn't tell Mr Bishop the truth. He had to lie.
He swallowed.
"I don't remember everything," he said slowly, forcing his voice to tremble, "but I can tell you what I remember."
He lowered his gaze, shaping his expression carefully. "I-I was in the playroom when Christian came in. He said he was angry at me… said I embarrassed him. He said he'd teach me a lesson."
Bishop's fingers tightened against the edge of his desk.
"Th-then he punched me. Th-then my head started hurting, and I remember falling… thrashing around. A-and I don't remember much after that." Alex paused, as if recalling something unpleasant. "Except that… I think I kicked Christian in the face. M-maybe, th-that's why he was unconscious?"
Mr. Bishop's face went pale.
"Y-you... I didn't tell you that he was unconscious. I thought you didn't remember!", at this point Mr. Bishop was stumbling out of his chair, backing away from Alex, "You said you didn't remember what happened! You-You're just like him. You're just like Tom Riddle! Y-You're a demon!", by now, his back was already touching the walls of his office.
Alex was shocked when he heard what Mr. Bishop said. His chest tightened. This wasn't supposed to happen. He hadn't meant for this to spiral so far. Things had gone catastrophically wrong and he needed to fix it.
He racked his mind, thinking of a way to fix the situation.
His thoughts raced — then stopped.
Tom Riddle's memories surfaced unbidden.
Riddle had often infused magic into his speech, to compel the people around him.
Alex hesitated. Using that magic meant crossing a line he couldn't uncross.
But it was already too late, now was not the time to hesitate — he had to fix what he had done.
He channeled the panic in his chest and the stress of the situation, focusing immensely on the outcome he desired.
Suddenly, his voice seemed to burst out from within him.
"FORGET!", rather than his normal, childish voice, these words came out in a loud, ringing tone, that seemed to impose Alex's will upon the surroundings.
Mr. Bishop seemed to enter a stupor, as his eyes once again glazed over. Christian also entered a trance, in the same chair he had been in, since Alex entered the room.
Soon, Mr Bishop awoke. He looked around the room surprised, before turning to the boys and asking, "Why am I standing up?".
Alex gave Mr Bishop his best confused look, "You didn't say. You just got up.".
Bishop quickly returned to his seat before focusing on Alex.
"What happened with you and Christian in the playroom? He... seems traumatised. He won't tell me."
Again putting on his best innocent look, Alex retold his story, without mentioning the fact that Christian was unconscious.
"If that was what happened, then why was Christian unconscious too?", questioned Bishop.
"Maybe, he was accidentally knocked out by my spasming?", with this sentence, Alex had infused some magic, to make it more believable, otherwise this excuse would never work.
"Hmmm. Yes... maybe."
'This is really useful.' thought Alex, 'I could do a lot of things with this.'
"But if that's what happened, then why didn't you tell me before?", this question was directed at Christian.
His eyes widened in panic, as his gaze darted to Alex's face.
"He was probably just embarrassed", suddenly Alex interjected.
"Right?"
He used more magic here.
Christian hurriedly nodded his head, "Y-yes", that was the only word he had spoken the entire meeting.
Bishop was suspicious. This was out of character for Christian, he looked more scared than embarrassed. Despite himself, his thoughts travelled to his own childhood, his darkest memories, how he had acted after that boy had done those things to him. His heart still beat hard at the thought of him, a small, involuntary shudder overcoming him.
His thoughts returned back to the situation at hand. He didn't want to believe the explanation offered, something nagged at him — and yet for some reason he was strangely convinced. It was a peculiar feeling that was hard to describe — believing something and yet not believing at the same time.
Bishop's gaze refocussed on Alex. A beat passed as he studied the young boy's face. Then his gaze softened. The boy was only four years old. And he had known the boy since birth. How could a child so young and innocent be anything like that… demon?
"Fine.", said Mr. Bishop, "Get out now. Both of you.", and despite his doubts, Bishop's cautious gaze followed Alex's figure as he left the office.