Nikita Vasilyevich Pavlov is what you know as child prodigy. He is the literal definition for it, when you open your lexicon and search under C, it's likely that Nikita will smile at you out of a picture, his ash-blond hair like frost on the black-and-white photographies, his startling blue eyes piercing into your soul, just as icy as the smile, which is forced onto his thin lips - because you learn to smile when your father tells you to so those who'll look at the taken pictures won't have the wrong expression.

Because you like being a child prodigy, don't you, Nikita?

You love your piano, don't you, Nikita?

Unfortunately, Nikita has never been good at plastering smiles onto his face - or at smiling in general. It just never feels really right, as if his lips aren't made to form smiles and a subtle raising of one of his mouth's corners it usually enough to show his fondness of something and to make the reporters swoon ("Look! Nikita Pavlov is smiling at me!").

Well, at least it has been.

Now, Nikita isn't a young child anymore, who gives interviews when his father says to or smiles for the cmaera when his father says to or tours through Europe, Asia, America and god knows where when his father says to.

Not anymore.

Because since war has stopped Nikita's touring in 1940 in France, he's attending Hogwarts - seems like the tour hasn't only been a nice way to show his son's talent but also to escape the people the British Ministry has sent out to search for Nikita, who hasn't come to start his school years at Hogwarts like all others've done and has been known as "missing or kidnapped".

Usually, the Ministry'd drop such cases quite soon, sometimes they don't even send out aurors to look for the missing but they've been searching for Nikita for approximately two years. Why?, you might ask.

Of course not, because they've developed a heart and compassion, I might answer. Because they indeed haven't. No, it is because Nikita's mother, Maria, has been an auror, who's been searching for people in Grindelwald's regime who're ready to betray Grindelwald or are easy to manipulate so they'd have some spies - they need them and it's getting more urgent and more urgent every day because the fear among the wizarding world increases.

Unfortunately, Maria hasn't told her son anything. Not, who's hollow-hearted enough to betray Grindelwald, not, that he's a wizard, not, that she's been a witch. She's always just smiled and said, how beautiful and talented her beloved son is.

You are a child prodigy, aren't you, Nikita?

You love your piano, don't you, Nikita?

You are the prettiest child prodigy I could wish for, Nikita, you know?

When an auror on his honeymoon has been on one of Nikita's many concerts in Paris, after they've got stuck in the city because Salzburg, Vienna and Rome have cancelled his performances due to the war, the auror's kind of arrested Nikita and his father, scaring the hell out of the thirteen-year-old. Hasn't he played well? Hasn't he smiled enough? Has he done something wrong?

Well, he hasn't done anything wrong but Vasili has. Because Nikita should have been in school and not in concert halls all over the northern half of the world.

Of course, all of this has been a huge shock for Nikita and he has had to catch up two years and the start of the third one. The masses of work to do've been frightening at the beginning and Nikita even has had to abandon his daily hours of practice to make up - which has been horrible for him because his father's told him to practice, practice, PRACTICE and playing the piano's been the only thing that has kept him in his mind because suddenly Nikita's been in a magical castle, in a house everybody is abhorred of, with no friends (not that he'd have searched for some) because there've already been gangs - of course, after all, it's been the fucking third year.

However, then has happened something, Nikita hasn't seen coming (neither has Vasili, because he wouldn't ever have let Nikita go, if he'd known): He's fallen in love with magic. No need for the piano anymore.

You like being a child prodigy, don't you, Nikita?

No, fuck you.

You love your piano, don't you, Nikita?

No, and I've never done so.

Now, Nikita is mighty and when his father wants him to practice, Nikita can just draw out his wand and if this isn't enough to get rid of Vasili, Nikita whispers something like Challenge me or You sure and he hasn't played the piano genuinely for four years now because fuck you, otets, for not letting me attend Hogwarts.

Nikita plans to become a healer or a potioneer or something, as long as he can stay in excessive touch with magic, it doesn't matter how bad he is in a certain subject, he'll desperately study, study, STUDY and then he'll be able to pursue the career he aims for.

He also plans to maybe smile sometimes because people are quite often intimidated due to his frory looks and it will be much easier to get a job when his boss isn't slightly afraid of him.

And Nikita also plans to never touch a piano again because why the hell should he when he has magic?

However, most of his plans change when he hears Tom Riddle play violin so impressively, he just has to make a comeback with the Riddle boy at his side, become a professional pianist and maybe smile more often at his fellow Slytherin because why shouldn't you smile at charming future dark lords?

(a sacreligious cello, but yeah)

𝖈𝖆𝖘𝖙  

𝕹𝖎𝖐𝖎𝖙𝖆 𝕻𝖆𝖛𝖑𝖔𝖛 as Alexander Malofeev

(who's an incredible young pianist, by the way)

𝕿𝖔𝖒 𝕽𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖑𝖊 as Tom Riddle

and Tom Hughes

and Christian Coulson

but as Tom Riddle

(attention, me being unprofessional af:

because I just can't find a face claim for him that suits and whenever I find somebody, there's no name... but if you want a picture, here, have Tom Hughes, because for me he is still more Tom Riddle than Christian Coulson but at the same time Christian Coulson is more Tom Riddle than Tom Hughes... ugh

damn, what a loser I am)

(Tom Hughes reading a book quite barbarically - I mean, look at the poor book in his hands and his shoe on the other one)

(Christian Coulson looking into god's eyes and thinking about his murder)

𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌: The pictures aren't mine, neither is the Harry Potter Universe even though my original characters belong to me, so does the story line. Also, I'm not Russian, I have no Russian relatives or friends and everything I know is from the internet... So please correct me or give me some infor or whatever because I don't want to misportray Russia. This story contains swearing... and maybe some drinking bc I like writing drunk scenes, I'm sorry

𝖉𝖊𝖉𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓: Oh_honeyz who's given me the impact to write a Tom Riddle with him as musician in the first place

LANALLAMA05 who's mentioned Nikita in her own Tom Riddle story (When we were young, check it out, folks), like thanks so much?! I mean, firstly, for the mentioning, and secondly, because it's in such a great book?! 

clhust who's kinda my beta aka best friend and totally my intensified ego

-FANTASYDEPRIVED who's shipping NikitaxTom really hard and has made the story aesthetically so much more appealing with the amazing crackship gif, the collage AND the cover. And she's also going to have Nikita in her book too (The moon is watching, amazing story, what should I say more?) and I am so happy about it-

cami chen who's always there for good gay action ;3

-astrologies  who's my musical counsellor because why think with your three brain cells when you can get those of another musician too?

𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖉𝖎𝖙: Thanks to -FANTASYDEPRIVED for the amazing cover! Thank you so, so much!!!! And this awestrucking crackship gif?! It's so beautiful! And the moodboard! You're a goddess-