A/N: I last updated this story in 2017 ahahaha

'What is going on?' I hear you asking. Well, better go ask someone else, cause I sure don't know.

Enjoy! (?)

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Pride versus pleasure

"Drink?" Riddle asked, carelessly throwing his coat over one of the smaller reading tables.

Harry squinted at his moving shadow, willing his eyes to adjust to the dim lightening inside the library. At least it wasn't the lord's bedroom.

He crossed his arms in front of him. "Are you trying to get me drunk?"

Riddle turned back to him with an innocent expression. "Maybe I simply wish to know your tastes."

"Guess."

The lord seemed unbothered by this and handed Harry one of the glasses with no hesitation.

Still standing, Harry took a small sip. It was wine, sweeter and thicker than any he'd had before. Alcohol was not limited for lowborns, on the contrary. It kept them placid. But Harry now realized that their wine was watered down so it tasted like nothing and you needed to buy more of it to get blissfully drunk.

"What are you thinking about when you frown like that?" Riddle asked curiously. He hadn't sat down either, but was leaning against the back of a large armchair, nursing his own drink.

"Society," Harry replied.

Riddle seemed amused by his answer. "A glass of wine makes you think about society?"

"Anyone half intelligent would," Harry said, turning to the lord fully. "At least if they aren't highborn and have their heads so far up their asses they don't see a thing."

Riddle tilted his head pensively. "Your hatred for highborns is really quite…pronounced. Unusual, even for someone of your station."

Harry snorted. "And how many lowborns do you know?"

The lord smiled sharply. "You'd be surprised."

He probably would be.

"Most lowborns don't hate higher borns at all," Riddle continued. "You would expect the obvious inequality to lead to outrage, but it created reverence instead."

"You're mistaken. It's not reverence, it's pure survival instinct."

"Oh?"

Harry gestured to the library's entrance. "You walk out that door every day and expect the world to please you. We walk out of our homes knowing that we will die if we don't please."

"All of you? Even you?" Riddle asked cynically.

"Especially me. I'm the charming one after all," Harry smiled sweetly.

Riddle took another sip from his glass. "You're quite thorny for someone who aims to please."

"I tried being reverent," Harry pointed out. "You didn't want it."

"You also attacked me with your fist."

"And it pleased you."

A heavy silence followed his statement. He refused to break eye contact and was rewarded by a glimpse of the same spark of genuine interest he'd seen before in the other's eyes. It was gone equally quickly, replaced by a much more calculating stare.

Riddle took a slow step in his direction and Harry had to force himself not to back up instinctively.

"You didn't do that to please me," Riddle said eventually, taking another step towards him.

Harry cocked his head. "Didn't I?"

Riddle bent down slightly, bringing their faces close enough Harry could feel the other's body heat. "You are an extraordinary good liar once you found your footing," Riddle murmured and reached one hand up and let it hover next to his cheek. "Makes me want to trip you.

Harry narrowed his eyes, holding himself completely still. "Try it."

Riddle leaned forward, causing Harry to lean back reflexively, though he still didn't take a step back.

They stood like that for a few seconds, Harry holding himself bent backwards precariously, Riddle's curious gaze on him.

"Are you falling yet?" the lord asked.

Harry could have taken a step back easily. There was plenty of space behind him yet and Riddle hadn't moved quickly, giving him ample time to disengage.

Harry wondered whether Riddle expected him to stop. It was clearly the wiser choice. But Harry was already too deep into this mess and there was a burning desire to get some leverage over Riddle. Any sort of leverage.

His eyes flickered to Riddle's lips subconsciously and the lord leaned down further and Harry could basically already feel him-

Riddle's back straightened and his hand dropped to flatten some non-existent wrinkle in his shirt.

Harry blinked stupidly.

"Your desire is there but you resent yourself so much for it that you direct it at me," Riddle stated, returning to his drink.

Something hot and quick flashed inside of Harry and it took him a moment to identify it as anger. That entitled fucking highborn bastard.

Something must have shown on his face, because Riddle smirked knowingly. "Again, such a short fuse. I might need to teach you meditation."

Harry was stunned speechless and something awfully close to shame joined his anger. Whether it was because he couldn't come up with a retort or because he'd almost allowed Riddle to do whatever the fuck he pleased was hard to tell.

"Yet you are so very patient with anybody else," Riddle continued. "Am I really the first one to best you?"

Harry remained silent, though this time it was a conscious effort.

Riddle's eyes lit up in dark delight. "I am, aren't I?"

"You claimed yourself our situation wasn't caused by you," Harry pointed out, voice flat.

"No, but you came to me nonetheless. Did you really think the picture of you on your knees saying pretty please wouldn't have brought Lucius to sell half his estate?"

Asking Lucius for help hadn't even crossed his mind. Thinking back, why had he been so focused on Riddle? Had he really not seen any other way? But no, Riddle was just screwing with his head again.

"I only met him once at that time," Harry said.

"Same as me."

"You were the one that offered."

"I threatened," Riddle clarified.

Harry chose to drink his wine instead of further indulging him.

"Silent again?"

"Were you expecting a 'good job'?" Harry bit out.

"Lucius-"

"You sure mock him a lot for having the same proclivities as you."

"Oh Harry," Riddle smirked, "I think you are worth much more than just half an estate."

The honesty in his voice brought Harry up short.

"Why?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Harry snorted and stepped around Riddle to set down his empty glass on the table. At least his emotions had calmed down, leaving him clear headed and slightly more in control again.

"I was promised a reward."

"You didn't want it."

"I wasn't the one who backed down," Harry reminded him, returning Riddle's caustic smirk with one of his own. "I'll try not to feel rejected."

"If I thought your interest genuine, I'd devour you whole. But I'm not starting anything with someone who refuses to say stop out of pride."

From what he could tell they had shot way past the start and were already in the middle of it, but whatever.

Riddle returned to the big writing desk and picked up something hanging from the chair there and draped it over the desk instead.

Harry approached, curious despite himself.

It looked to be another full set of clothes. Almost entirely black, finely made but with a very standard cut.

He looked up at Riddle quizzically.

"Your uniform."

Harry looked back down at the plain clothes, searching for more indication of what the hell Riddle was talking about.

He noticed a single word inside a discreet crest sitting on the shirt's left breast pocket.

Hogwarts.

The word meant nothing to him, but he had seen Draco and other noble hellspawns wearing clothes with the same crest on them.

"You want to send me to the university?" Harry asked perplexed, unable to hide all of his horror completely.

"Yes, I expect you to be popular."

There were a million questions Harry wanted to ask. He'd had to accept that Riddle didn't want to give any hints as to what his overall goal was, but every step, every new change only led to more questions.

He had about a thousand new ones just specifically about this order, but the lord's usually volatile reactions in the past was enough to deter him.

"They're not going to let me," he said instead. "Lowborns aren't allowed at university."

Riddle made an offhanded gesture. "They already agreed."

"On what grounds?"

He knew the nobility liked Riddle. Rich and elusive as he was, everyone wanting to curry his favour. But even so, his wish alone shouldn't be enough for them to even consider upsetting their precious social hierarchy to such an extent.

"Why it was Lucius and Severus that got you in of course."

"Of course?"

"To continue their little experiment. You are now officially the subject of intellectual debate. Sponsored by scholars and everything."

Harry squinted at the uniform, no doubt perfectly tailored to him already.

"Well, what do you think?" the lord asked, as if his opinion mattered in any way shape or form.

"I think," Harry said slowly. "You all must be bored out of your minds."

Riddle's smile was all teeth.

"How long?" Harry asked, hoping the question wasn't enough to set the other off.

The lord shrugged. "Not long. A week at most, if you're quick."

So this really was part of his convoluted plan. At least he didn't make him attend university just to toy with him.

"That's a full uniform," Harry pointed out. "Surely I could have visited the university as I am?"

"Curtesy of Lucius. We want you to fit in after all."

Of course. As if a lowborn ever would. Especially amongst dozens of highborn brats.

Harry deliberately controlled his breathing not to groan out loud. "Sure. And my task being..?"

Riddle opened a small drawer by the desk, picking up a folded piece of parchment.

He handed it to Harry. "A list. Of things to…procure."

"You mean steal," Harry said flatly.

Riddle smirked. "I mean remove from the premises…in a somewhat permanent fashion."

Harry snorted, but opened the paper.

At first he thought he was looking at a poem, as there were far too many words per line to make sense for a list. But as he skimmed down, his eyes caught the word Census several times and he realized it wasn't a list of things but of titles.

Harry glanced back up at the lord and pointed to the neverending rows of bookshelves around them. "All this and you're going through all this trouble for more books?"

"Hogwarts has the most extensive library in the country," Riddle said, as if that explained it.

As if someone like him couldn't just walk to the university's library himself and pick up a book. Or make literally any highborn do it for him.

"Okay…" Harry said slowly, carefully folding the paper again and slipping it into one of his pockets. "So I go to the library and then just…bring you these books?"

"Well obviously no one can trace it back to either of us. I can't send you to the university publicly, only for some books to mysteriously disappear while you're there."

Harry thought it over for a second. "You want me to steal them after I already left."

"Just make sure you remember the layout enough to get the job done. Hogwarts is a very old and convoluted building, with surprisingly efficient security."

Not that surprising, Harry thought, considering virtually all of the highborn sons and daughters spent a considerable amount of time in it. Only the best for their little hellspawns.

"And I'm assuming I can't display any interest in those books beforehand."

"So glad you're keeping up."

Harry scowled at him. "They still might trace it back to me. After all a lowborn visiting isn't exactly a common occurrence they'd forget."

"Not to worry, I'll have several people loan out the books after you leave, so we'll have multiple witnesses who can safely say they were still there when you left."

Harry sighed. "You really do like books, huh."

"I like power."

That much was obvious. Although as usual, Harry was taken aback by how readily the other was willing to admit it.

He had always thought of books as mere objects. Especially when he still couldn't read, they were nothing more than stacks of papers pressed together. But these weren't titles of romance novels or fanciful tales. These were records. Perhaps the only proof of events to exist.

He still couldn't fathom what the lord was after, but one thing was obvious.

Riddle wasn't stealing books. He was stealing history.

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As Harry was walking back home, the new uniform awkwardly draped over his arms, he pondered his possibilities.

He couldn't risk not executing Riddle's command to the letter. There was simply too much at stake for him and the lord had made his threats abundantly clear when setting up their contract.

The most infuriating part about all this was the fact that he couldn't even be sure if those books truly meant something to Riddle, or whether it was all just another test.

Harry kicked an unsuspecting stone down the road in frustration.

For the life of him he couldn't even take a good guess as to what the bigger picture was. And now he would have to deal with highborn brats every day, all day long. And somehow he would still need to perform during the evenings, he couldn't let the circus down. Although maybe it was time to seriously consider planning for a replacement act.

Speaking of which, he did have a show to get to. The sky above him was almost completely dark by now and he was still in the noble parts of town. At this point he would have to sprint down the entire city to make it in time.

"Need a ride?"

A carriage had pulled up beside him, the horses slowed down to a mere trot.

Harry glanced up at the half-opened carriage door.

Blaise Zabini was looking at him with haughtily raised eyebrows. As far as he could make out he was alone.

"Out for more evening adventures, milord?" Harry asked carefully.

"Well I never did get to see you perform," the other said. "Are you always this late?"

"I'm sure you understand, the will of our patron has priority."

"And he often wants you to miss your performance?"

No he just enjoys making my life difficult, Harry thought bitterly.

"Get in," Zabini commanded.

There was a long, long list of things that Harry would rather do, but there really wasn't any choice.

"Why thank you most kindly, milord," he said and climbed in.

Zabini snorted.

Not a particularly good sign. He'd always been a bit sharper than his cronies and Harry really didn't want him to doubt his docility.

Zabini closed the door after him and the carriage resumed its way at a faster pace.

"You have to get out at the large intersection downtown. I'm not ruining these axles in the lowborn quarters."

They had been just fine the last time he'd come down all the way to their circus, but Harry guessed he wouldn't appreciate the comment.

"I'm taking it I can't tempt you to another performance? On the house of course," he smiled brilliantly.

"At this point you'd have to give me money to go anywhere near that uncivilised shithole, Evans."

"Fair enough," Harry agreed easily.

He probably should follow this up with some clever and charming remark, but the evening with Riddle had thoroughly drained him.

"In fact, I'm still waiting for any sort of compensation," Zabini continued.

"I'll be sure to bring it up with Lord Riddle."

Zabini gave him a sly look. "You got enough time to have a conversation with the man?"

Harry blinked, unsure what the other was alluding to.

"'Laying hands on something that is mine', my ass," Zabini grumbled. "Fucking hypocrite. You know, you could have just told me before dragging me all the way to his house."

Oh gods. This boy really thought Riddle was fucking him. Bloody wonderful.

"Don't look so startled Evans," Zabini snorted. "It's abundantly clear. You sneaking around here at all times of the day. I hope you didn't think it was subtle."

"To be fair," Harry responded drily. "I'm not sneaking."

"He didn't have to chew me out for not being raised right while secretly doing exactly that," Zabini muttered, then glanced at Harry. "You don't seem too perturbed by it. You got any idea how much dirt you smudge on his grand name? Or is this not the first reputation you're ruining?"

Harry wanted to laugh out loud. He could just imaging Zabini telling all his little friends about the scandal. With any luck Draco would be told about it, which means Blondie would hear it too. What a delightful rumour for Riddle to stomp out. Hopefully it would give him a headache.

"I'm afraid all Lord Riddle has been doing with me," Harry said, deliberately sounding wistful. "Is teaching me how to read."

As much as he wanted to stoke this rumour, once it got back to Riddle it needed to be clear that Harry had done nothing but deny it.

"Sure," Zabini snorted. "And I'm the crown prince."

Harry widened his eyes. "You are?"

"Oh gods, Evans," Zabini chuckled, indicating for the carriage to stop. "Get out of here before you actually learn something about the world."

Harry gathered up the uniform and made to leave. "Thank you very much for the-"

"Yes yes," Zabini waved him off.

Harry hoped out of the carriage and bowed low to the open door.

"Wait," Zabini said suddenly. "Is that a Hogwarts uniform?"

Harry straightened back up. "I'm to attend for a couple of days."

Zabini stared at him, then simply shook his head. "The fuck?"

"Are you enrolled at the university too?" Harry asked politely.

Zabini ignored him completely. "They read, go to school, attend parties. What's next? Marriage?"

The door was shut in Harry's face and the carriage rolled of.

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"Harry! I thought you wouldn't make it!" Hermione greeted him at the edge of their camp, dressed and ready to go.

Harry was jogging down the dirt path.

"And you are once again not in your clothes," she remarked worriedly.

"I think you scared off any nobles for the foreseeable future," Harry pointed out. "So I doubt it's a big deal."

"You hate him that much?"

There was genuine concern in her voice. His friends didn't know where he went half the time, but it had gotten to a point where he was gone pretty much all the time.

"Look I just didn't have time to change yet," Harry said placatingly. "Didn't want to get them all dirty."

"What did he do to you?"

"Hermione, please. We have a show in like five minutes."

"It's not like you're ever in camp for longer!"

Harry sighed. "I'm sorry alright? It's not by choice, but I'm fine okay?"

"I'm worried sick about you, I know you barely have time to sleep."

She did look worried. And he might be able to omit certain things, but he couldn't lie to her. More importantly he didn't want to. He needed to give her something.

"Okay look…" he started. "It might be a good idea to start replacing my acts for a while. It's just…a lot."

She was still frowning, but she was also nodding eagerly. "Okay, sure, that sounds reasonable. Uhm, let me think. Luna is usually just working one on one form her wagon, but she's done acts before. And Ginny has improved her tightrope so much recently, I think she could get a solo act together."

She started mumbling some other things under her breath and Harry was glad. He'd given her a problem she could solve. He knew it would make her feel so much better if she could help him out.

She glanced at him. "You'd still have to go on if Lord Riddle shows up."

"I know, it's fine."

She huffed, frustrated. "I just don't like this. Everyone is so happy and we are doing so well, but you-"

"Don't let my moods get you down. I'm happy if you guys are happy, you know that."

"What is that?" she asked, pointing at the clothes he was carrying.

"School uniform."

"School?" she echoed incredulously. "The fuck?"

Harry burst out laughing, partially doubling over.

"What?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

"Nothing," Harry laughed. "I'll see you in a bit."

He climbed the stairs to his wagon and shook his head.

High- and lowborns really were the exact same, deep down.

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Harry felt thoroughly silly when he put on the black uniform, with its long sweeping tailcoat. It fit perfectly of course, Blondie must have his measurements memorized by now.

He really didn't know what to pack for the day. Now that he thought about it, he really had no idea what the highborn brats did at school all day long, every day, over several years.

The only lessons he ever had were with Riddle, and he was pretty sure that couldn't be the standard.

He ended up packing nothing at all, though he was seriously tempted to take a small switchblade with him. But the thought of anyone discovering that made him rethink. He didn't dare take the list of book titles with him, but he'd memorized them last night.

He stepped out of his wagon and closed the door. He was greeted by poorly muffled laughter.

"Uh I don't know how to tell you this mate," Ron grinned, "but you look, uh…"

"Ridiculous?" Harry finished, spinning once for an extra pompous effect.

"Yeah that," Ron nodded. "What are they making you do this time?"

"Attending university, more or less."

"Blimey," Ron said, deadpan. "Well better you than me."

"Is it too late to become tiger food?" Harry asked longingly.

"You don't have enough meat on your bones," Ron said seriously. "And all that muscle is chewy."

"Wouldn't want them to have to strain their jaws," Harry said drily.

"Only the best for my girls," Ron laughed and strolled off, probably to give said girls a better breakfast than Harry.

Harry made his way out of camp and through the slums, while the sun was slowly rising. Hogwarts was a considerable distance away from the city. Nobles and most highborns used their private carriages to get there, or at least sharing one in small groups. Some of the less fortunate highborns had to use a train.

The lands around the university was littered with taverns and scholarly oriented shops. Many students and alumni would frequently make trips to the tiny university village, making it a lucrative business. Furthermore, due to the exclusivity of the university, lowborns were virtually non-existent there, except maybe to clean their dishes.

Harry had always wondered what they did for entertainment there. Performers of just about any art were almost always lowborn. But then maybe highborns were content to spend their time drinking, shopping and gambling.

He made his way to the city's edge and onto the big road leading out of it. Sure enough, a carriage soon caught up with him.

When Riddle had said transportation would be arranged, he had expected one of the Malfoy's to pick him up, seeing as Draco was surely attending the school.

But looking up inside the carriage, he could see to his surprise that it was Severus Snape.

The door was opened slightly, without any words and without the carriage ever stopping completely.

Harry had to jog somewhat to match its pace before he could grab hold of the door and hop in.

"Good morning, Lord Snape," he greeted amicably. "I wasn't expecting you."

"I was expecting you," the other replied impassively, "about ten minutes ago."

Harry blinked. He wasn't used to dealing with Snape on his own and wondered if he'd see more of his dry wit without his blonde counterpart.

"Terribly sorry. I'm not used to the walk."

"I suggest you get used to it."

Harry bit his lip to keep from smirking. The sour looking man was obviously not a morning person.

"Are you visiting the small village by the university?" he asked instead.

"I give lectures at Hogwarts. Sometimes."

Harry brightened. "You're a professor?"

The other gave him a blank stare. "Sometimes."

"What's your field of study? Besides philosophy of course."

"Chemistry," Snape scowled and then reluctantly added. "…and philosophy."

Harry bit his lip again, though he was pretty sure this time he couldn't hide his smile completely.

Snape reached into one of his coat's pockets and handed him a piece of paper.

Harry was getting rather tired of that; usually it meant nothing good.

"What's that?" he asked, as he unfolded it.

"Your class schedule."

Riddle was actually making him attend classes on top of everything else. And it was a full schedule as well. When on earth was he supposed to get familiar with the building and the library?

"Anything not to your liking?" Snape asked wryly.

"Not at all, how very exciting," Harry replied, wondering what the heck Riddle thought he needed astrology for.

The rest of the ride passed mostly in silence. Harry briefly tried to engage the other in conversation, but all he got were one worded answers.

It took them almost half an hour, but by the time their carriage started to pass through smaller roads and buildings again, the sun was out for good.

Hogwarts towered over it all and after a couple of minutes uphill, they arrived in a courtyard, next to plenty of other carriages.

They both exited the small space and Harry was glad to be able to stretch his legs properly again.

"If you run into any trouble," Snape began, "deal with it on your own."

The lord gathered his belongings and left him standing there, clutching his schedule.

Harry glanced up at the imposing double doors leading into the building, then down at his schedule. There was no information other than time and subject. He had no idea how to even find the room.

9am - Arithmancy

The class had started five minutes ago.

Fantastic.

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A/N: See you in another 4-5 years I guess lmao. Take care!