Work Text:
Tom was in a bad mood when he arrived home from primary school. Newt could see it in his tense posture and his glaring eyes. He could hear it in his loud footsteps and the slamming doors. Newt steeled himself like he was about to confront an angry wampus. Carefully, he peered into Tom’s personal study and found him throwing his school books onto his desk with visceral anger. Newt knocked twice on the doorframe to let the boy know he was there.
“Tom?” Newt asked gently, but before he could ask what was wrong, Tom’s burning glare turned towards him. Used to Tom’s tempers, Newt’s only reaction was to blink.
“Don’t. Call me. That.” Tom said through gritted teeth.
Newt frowned with obvious confusion, “Don’t call you… ‘Tom’? But that’s your name-”
“I
hate
it.” Tom’s hands were balled into such tight fists that his knuckles were turning white. “There are three other boys in my class all named Tom and even one of the teachers is named Tom. It’s a stupid, boring, normal name. I’m special, though. My name should reflect that.”
The disgust that coated his voice every time he said the name ‘Tom’ was practically dripping from the boy’s mouth.
Newt shrugged a shoulder, “Well-”
Tom interrupted, “From now on, I want to be called my middle name, Marvolo. It’s better. More unique. Like your name.”
“Tom, I-”
“ Marvolo. ”
Newt wasn’t intimidated. He got down onto his knees, eye-level with Tom. “A name doesn’t determine the worth of a person. I think your name is special enough and suits you just fine.”
Tom scoffed, rolled his eyes, and turned his head away from Newt, crossing his arms over his chest.
“People like Salazar Slytherin didn’t become well known because their name was special. If that was true, people wouldn’t still be talking about them today, thousands of years from when they were alive.” Newt insisted. “They became well-known because of the things they accomplished. If you do great things, people won’t care about how normal your name is.”
When Tom’s posture loosened a tad bit, Newt knew that he was getting to him. Newt wasn’t really protesting a name change. If Tom really wanted to go by Marvolo, that was fine, but it had to be for a better reason than, ‘It’s too normal.’
“ ‘Potions Master Tom’ or ‘Defense Master Tom’ just doesn’t have a good ring to it.” Even though the boy said it with confidence that said that he believed what he was saying, it was a weak argument, and Tom knew it.
“Oh, I don’t know. ‘ Defense Master Tom Marvolo Riddle ’ sounds quite nice, in my opinion.” Newt said. Most people would scold Tom for his arrogance, considering he was only 8 years old and not nearly old enough for Hogwarts, but Newt knew Tom was brilliant enough to get a mastery in whatever he liked.
Tom made a frustrated noise that said that he really didn’t want to agree with Newt but it was also hard to disagree.
The magizoologist decided to go for the kill and divulge a little bit of his past. “When I was your age, I hated my name too.”
Tom looked so incredulous that it made Newt feel quite flattered and proud of his name.
“It’s true. At Hogwarts, all the students found countless things about my name to poke fun at, but they especially thought it was funny to remind me that my name was the same as an exam. Even before Hogwarts, Theseus would make fun of my name, too.”
Tom sneered and decided that he needed to defend Newt’s name, “Theseus shouldn’t even talk. Has he heard his name? It sounds like a sneeze!”
Newt choked on a laugh. He reached out with his hand and gently swiped a thumb over Tom’s cheek. The boy’s complexion turned a light pink. Newt smiled fondly.
Withdrawing his hand, he looked at him seriously, “If you...really do want to be called Marvolo, though...I mean, if you’re uncomfortable with being called Tom...I just don’t want you to make that decision based on the fact that you think it’s not special enough.”
“I still hate that it’s so common but...I guess I’m fine with being called ‘Tom’,” he said, without the disgust that coated his voice when he said the name earlier in their conversation. He looked at Newt directly in the eyes, full of determination, “I’ll outshine all those other Toms.”
“Like a
Lumos Maxima
.” Newt agreed, which made Tom stand straighter with a wide smirk. Undoubtedly, he was thinking about exactly how he’d stand out in the future and what accomplishments he’d make.