[HP] Dearest Enemy

Harry froze for a moment, then followed Tom's fingers.Above the fireplace in the living room was a huge bust of a young man with fair complexion and mild curly black hair, who was dressed luxuriously.He smiled and nodded gracefully to Harry.

"Don't make such a fuss, Tom," said Harry softly.

"But, but." Tom didn't know how to describe the shock in his heart, "The portrait won't move!"

"This is my grandfather, Stanley Palampion." Alex introduced, "He is a learned man. He has been traveling around the world since last year and has no plans to return home."

Harry nodded politely to the portrait.

"Did Tom live in the Muggle world since he was born?" Alex put down his teacup and looked at Harry.

"Yes." Harry replied in a deep voice, "I think it's safer to live in the Muggle world."

"Huh? I don't think so." Alex glanced at Harry, moved a low stool and sat opposite Tom.With Alex's wide eyes on him, Tom felt like a mouse cornered by a cat, eyed Harry uneasily, and flinched back.

"Tom, did anything weird happen to you when you were angry or happy?" Alex asked gently.

Tom looked at the smiling Alex warily, then nodded slowly, and looked at Harry beside him. He had put down his teacup and was staring at himself intently.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"I can make things move without using my hands, and I can talk to the animals," Tom said. "I had a long conversation with a snake at the zoo once, and he told me his name was Bonnie."

"Can talk to snakes!" Alex changed his expression and looked at Harry.Harry's expression was serious, but not the slightest bit surprised.

"The kid's a Parseltongue!" Alex stared at Harry dumbfounded.

"Yes, he is." Harry nodded.

"What's a Parseltongue?" asked Tom, puzzled.

"It's because you speak Parseltongue," Harry explained.

Alex frowned at Harry, "Tom doesn't know anything about the wizarding world!"

Harry glanced at Alex, but said nothing.

"Harry taught me a lot." Tom blinked his eyes wide. "What is a Muggle?"

"Not those Muggle things." Alex grabbed a handful of flamboyant hair and looked at Tom seriously, "Tom, you're a wizard."

"Wizard?" Tom's eyes widened.He looked at Harry uncertainly, and Harry nodded sullenly.

"You, me, Alex, we're all wizards." Harry said a little unhappy.

Tom thought of the wicked witch in the fairy tale book and the old man in the robe with a strange walking stick.Their faces were always hideous, nothing like Harry and Alex's.

How can I be a wizard?Tom was suspicious in his heart, but he didn't dare to speak out because of Harry's displeased face. He looked at Alex and then at Harry.Alex clearly wanted to ask Harry a question, but Harry didn't seem to want to pursue the topic further.

"Master, please come to the restaurant for dinner." The elf said respectfully at the door.Tom was startled when he saw something about his own height.

"This is my servant, Robbie, it's a house-elf, my servant. You'll get used to it, Tom." Alex said with a smile, rubbing Tom's head, "We Let's see who gets to the restaurant first!"

Tom glanced at Harry, Harry nodded, and then Tom climbed off the sofa and ran out of the living room door.

Had a great dinner.Alex was a hospitable host, and the meals were plentiful and delicious, some of which Tom had never seen before.After dinner, Alex took the two to visit his villa and prepared a room for them.Harry wanted to politely decline, but Alex grabbed his shoulders.

"I'll go back to London with you tomorrow." He grinned, showing a row of white and neat teeth, "The swamp at night is more dangerous than the day, I don't recommend you take your little one to walk in the swamp at night, besides he Tired too."

Harry looked at Tom.Alex was right, although Tom was still looking at the moving portraits on the wall, his face was tired.

"If you don't want to sleep, you can find me in the living room downstairs." Alex winked at Harry and looked at Tom, "Good night, Tom."

"Good night, Alex," Tom replied, stepping into the guest room, eyes wide open.

There was a large carved double four-poster bed, the largest of which Tom had ever seen.Harry walked to the door at the far end of the room and opened it to find a luxurious bathroom.

"Go take a shower first, and then get a good night's sleep." Harry told Tom, "I still have to talk to Alex."

"Harry, will you be back later?" Tom grabbed Harry's clothes.

Harry looked at him with some surprise: "Of course. You go to bed first, and I'll be back in a while."

Tom let go of Harry's coat, looked at Harry again, turned and walked into the bathroom, closing the door.

When Harry came to the living room, Alex was holding a glass of red wine and dictating something to his quill. When he saw Harry standing at the door, he stopped immediately: "Have you arranged your little one?"

"Sorry to bother you." Harry approached the living room. "If you don't mind, I would like to ask Mr. Slampelli about it."

"Are you interested in the old guy who studies alchemy?" Alex waved his wand and poured Harry a glass too.

"Thank you. Mr. Slampeli is an expert in time magic." Harry held his glass and looked at Alex. "I need to meet with him and discuss it in detail."

"Time magic?" Alex raised his eyebrows in surprise, "I thought it was alchemy. Yes, the old guy is indeed an authority in this area, but even if you meet him, you won't get much useful things .He gave all his previous research materials to the Ministry of Magic to study the Time-Turner three years ago, because he couldn't remember them."

"Then the letter he wrote back to me was you?"

"It's me." Alex raised his glass to Harry. "The old guy was a good friend of my grandfather. I knew him when I was very young. I went to visit him that day, but he grabbed him You reply, who would have thought that such a thing would happen."

"The time-turner is still under study?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I have studied it for many years." Alex nodded, "but there has been no result."

Harry frowned.He always thought that the time converter existed a long time ago, but he didn't expect that it was still under research.

"Excuse me, why are you looking for time-related magic?" Alex asked, "That aspect of magic is very dangerous."

"I have some problems to solve," Harry replied.Although Alex was a warm man, Harry wasn't going to tell him his secret.

Alex waited for Harry to continue, but Harry fell silent.Alex put down his glass and sat down opposite Harry: "Then why do you want to live among Muggles?"

"Tom," Harry replied vaguely, "it's good for him." Harry didn't want Tom to be a Muggle hater again.

"He's a Parseltongue." Alex stared at Harry closely. "Do you know what that means?"

"I know," Harry replied. "It's a famous Slytherin trick."

Alex raised his eyebrows and spread his hands: "I don't know what you think, but it must be not easy to live among Muggles with a child and study time magic."

Harry looked up at Alex.There was no malicious mockery in those gray eyes, on the contrary, they were very sincere.Alex was far from annoying, and he actually reminded Harry of his best friend Ron very easily.

"I plan to go back to London and find a new job in Diagon Alley," said Harry.

"Are you going to keep Tom with you?" Alex asked. "He's very attached to you."

"I'm his godfather after all." Harry spread his hands.

"That kid might actually be the Heir of Slytherin or something," Alex said, laughing, completely unaware that he was telling the truth.

Harry smiled at him, put down an untouched sip of wine and stood up: "I want to go to rest. Thank you for today, Alex."

"You're welcome." Alex patted Harry on the shoulder. "I'm glad to see other people here. It's really boring to patrol the reserve alone. Good night, Harry."