Themed Rec List | Harry-Raises-Tom Riddle Recs
Another one of my all-time favorite Tomarrymort themes is when Harry decides to raise Tom Riddle. Below is a selection of wonderful fics where Harry is Tom's primary caretaker for some or all points during his childhood, such as going back in time to adopt Tom, or existing as a disembodied voice in Tom’s head, mentoring and guiding him through the ups & downs of his unfortunate childhood circumstances.
Many of these fics ask the question, could Tom have turned out differently if he had experienced a better, kinder upbringing? How much of Tom's nature is nature versus nurture, and how much influence can Harry even exert? These questions and more are explored in the >1 million words of Harry-raises-Tom Riddle fic linked below.
See here for Part 1 of this theme: Voldemort-Raises-Harry Tomarrymort Recs 🤍
47 Days to Change by snow_owl01 (E, 201k, complete)
Harry Potter and Tom Riddle are enemies, born adversaries, prophesied leaders of opposite factions.
An unfortunate tale of one man's failed attempt to mold young Tom into a decent, law-abiding citizen. Instead, as Fate will have it, young Tom grows up to become the same twisted psychopath, who is hell-bent on winning the love of his adoptive father, Harry's consent be damned.
A Single Love by Vera_DragonMuse (E, 23k, complete)
If Tom had been raised by Harry instead, would he have grown up to be Lord Voldemort?
Animus, Anima by @maiathoustra (M, 145k, complete)
In limbo, Harry doesn't choose to go back to the Forbidden Forest to face Voldemort. He makes another decision and finds himself in a baby's body: little Tom Riddle.
Years pass that intimately bind the orphan and his imaginary friend into a hopeless and incestuous relationship. Indeed, all the odd events of Tom Riddle's life happen in spite of Harry's presence: could he be the one who provokes them?
This is Tom Riddle's entire life, as close to canon as possible, if he shared his body with Harry Potter (and fell in love with him).
complete by @cindle-writes (E, 9k, complete)
Everyone had always said that Voldemort was an alpha, and Harry didn't have any reason to presume otherwise. When he travels back in time to adopt Tom Riddle out of the orphanage, it never occurs to him there'd be any issue.
What Harry doesn’t realize is that Tom is actually an unbonded omega.
Eudaimonia by @duplicitywrites (E, 16k, complete)
Harry travels back in time to save Merope Gaunt from dying. He takes her in, heals her illness, helps her when she gives birth to her son... and then falls prey to her love potion.
Despite his lack of exposure to the outside world, it doesn't take Tom long to realize something is off about his parents' marriage.
It takes even less time for him to decide his loving father deserves better.
Growing Pains by @whisprchrysalis (M, 113k, WIP)
June 24th, 1995. The night that Lord Voldemort regains his human form and attempts to fight Harry to the death, their wands collide, shared by a beam of gold light.
And then, Lord Voldemort's volatile, recently-regenerated human form morphs into something else entirely. Into his seven-year-old de-aged self. Now he's young Tom Riddle, fresh out of Wool's Orphanage.
Paved With the Best Intentions by @perhaps-sunlight (M, 81k, WIP)
Instead of dying during the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort de-ages into an infant. Until he becomes old enough to be legally executed, he will be magically bound to Harry.
The Abyss by AislingSiobhan (E, 36k, complete)
Nietzsche was right: when fighting monsters, Harry should have been more careful not to become one himself. That didn’t matter anymore. It was too late to save himself, yet he could still save the world from Voldemort. But who would save Voldemort from him?
the babytrap series by @cindle-writes, @crowcrowcrowthing, @duplicitywrites (E, 5k, complete)
This little boy, barely five years old and Tom Riddle in miniature, boasted beautiful emerald eyes.
“A piece of you,” Tom said lightly, kissing Harry’s cheek in greeting, “and a piece of me.”
the eternal flame by @duplicitywrites (E, 25k, WIP) — with lovely art by @kagariasuha and more lovely art by @chiocchi
There’s a well-dressed older man who enters the orphanage asking after Tom Riddle.
The man’s green eyes fix on Tom’s face, searching and searching. His expression is conflicted, sad and hurt. Almost like he’s grieving, only that doesn’t make any sense because Tom is right here.
“My name is Harry Gaunt,” the man says, the tenor of his voice soft and faltering, a reflection of Tom's deepest, most secret anxieties, “and I’m here to adopt you.”
Times, he remembers by SpitFire97 (T, 4k, complete)
A green-eyed stranger whisks Tom to a distant future to prevent the Dark Lord from getting to Tom. It’s not his fault he misunderstands.
Three Turns Should Do It by @vdoshu (M, 284k, WIP)
When Harry tried to cast a Patronus to save himself, Sirius, and Hermione from hundreds of Dementors, he created a paradox, and found himself ripped out of time entirely. Many years earlier, Tom Riddle was just a lonely boy who wanted to be happy. But history was written by the victors, and the monster of Lord Voldemort was not what Harry found when he was no longer adrift.
Time was a tricky thing, and fate, even trickier. It would take plenty of friends, and family, and just so much time, but maybe—maybe—together they could change fate.
What He Grows To Be by @k-s-morgan (M, 267k, complete)
Tom Riddle is a frightening coil of darkness, cruelty, and greatness, and changing him is Harry’s only hope for saving people he loves. Going back in time, he takes Tom from the orphanage, but his optimism shatters with every year they spend together.
Tom still longs for darkness. Tom stifles him in his possessiveness. Tom is fixated on him to the point of destroying the world just to keep him.
But Harry loves him. And the future changes.
“Would you like to come with me?” by @chiocchi (SFW, art)
The Wool’s Orphanage adoption scene. Adorable heartwarming art piece.
origamiaround
germansingergirl
gummygunk
andulkaphoto
izzy806
