Harry Potter and the Reworked Universe [HP Rewrite] [Narrative Quest]

Harry blinked.

Then he blinked again.

Then, rather hurriedly, he dropped to a knee and bowed his head, trying to channel Draco as he said, "Your Majesty, it's an honour to meet you."

King Riddle blushed up a storm and started to stutter while Britannia smirked behind him, "O-Oh, please, none of that. There really is no need, please, stand up!"

Headmaster Dumbledore seemed just as ammused as the embodiment of Britain, taking a seat behind the desk and saying, "Now, now, Tom. There's nothing wrong with children honouring the old ways."

Despite that, Harry started standing up and tried not to show his nerves as he asked, "W-Why are you here, your Majesty?"

"You can just call me Riddle, I won't mind," King Riddle said, a little awkward. "And, well, I was hoping for a quick chat with the new Prince of England. I would have done this earlier, but Albus here arranged for you to be hidden and cared for beyond my reach."

Harry blinked, then looked at the Headmaster for confirmation.

"I'd spoken with your father about what to do in case of his and your mother's demise," Albus said. "While by the end he didn't have any family to leave you with, he wished for you to be raised somewhere calm and safe."

"And... what did my mum want?" Harry questioned.

"The same," Dumbledore replied. "For you to know family, calm and safety."

Harry frowned a bit, but had his attention dragged over to the King when he cleared his throat and spoke up, "In any case, now that you've mostly been raised, I wished to extend an offer to you."

"What offer?"

"As an Unspoken Prince of England, there are certain expectations of you. You are required to oversee a quarter of the nation's dukedoms, which themselves are made up of earldoms, and so on. This includes resolving disputes, managing deals between groups of enough importance, officiating weddings, divorces and funerals of those of enough political weight or personal importance, waging war, collecting taxes, things like that."

"That's... a lot," Harry smartly pointed out.

"Indeed. And with you out of contact and the Princely House Black... indisposed; it has fallen upon Houses Gaunt and Shacklebolt, as well as myself, to pick up the slack from both of you," King Riddle said, not unkindly while he folded his hands behind his back. "You won't be asked to take control before you finish your education here at the Academy, naturally, but it would be helpful if you could take care of some matters that have been waiting for you."

"Um... I'm not sure I could," said Harry. "I don't really know anything about ruling."

"And hence why I'm really here," King Riddle nodded. "I wished to offer you tutoring."

Harry blinked. The first thing to come out of his mouth was, "Like, in maths?"

"If you struggle with them," King Riddle shrugged. "Mainly, in the subtle arts of politicking and ruling. Both mundanely and in Unspoken matters."

"Does that include pronouncing capitalized letters?"

"It does, actually!" the King happily said.

"It's a subtle art," the Headmaster noted. Then he added, "One could say it is an Art, even."

The King nodded, "Indeed."

Harry blinked, "Did you do it there? It was hard to tell, for some reason."

"I've yet to completely master it," the King sadly shrugged. "I was busy learning to be an Archmage and a King."

That felt a tad passive-agressive.

"But enough stalling," King Riddle said, clapping his hands. "This is by no means a one-time offer, but it might be a yearly one, as I do need to organize my schedule for the coming year."

Britannia scoffed.

"Britannia needs to schedule my oncoming year," the King corrected himself.

"You have the personification of England managing your schedule?" the Headmaster asked, sounding horribly affronted.

"It's not like she was very busy," King Riddle shrugged. "All she did was lounge around, glare at anyone I talked to, steal things from ambassadors and eat Fish & Chips."

[READER CHOICE INTERRUPT!]

[Trait Triggered: Prince Charming!]

[Interrupt/Trait Synergy!]

Harry brightened up and smiled, saying, "I like Fish 'n Chips too!"

The Headmaster and the King gave him disgusted looks.

The personification of England, however, smiled for the first time since Harry met her, got out of her seat and put down her shield so she could ruffle Harry's messy hair.

The King blinked, then barked out a laugh, "Well, the boy just outpaced me as her favorite person. Good job, Prince Potter. I look forward to you usurping me with no resistance from my familiar."

[Harry gained the trait: Britannia's Specialest Boy! English Urban Magic just got ten times easier.]

Harry chuckled awkwardly, then nodded, "Right, so... tutoring."

"You can say no," said King Riddle. "I understand that it can be overwhelming to enter a new world. I went through it myself. And, frankly, I probably won't make integration any easier on you."

[][TUTORING] Accept: You're a goverment agent now. You need to know how to do your job so you don't end up like those politicians that Uncle Vernon's friends always complain about.

[][TUTORING] Decline: You're eleven, for goodness' sake! It can wait until you're twelve, at least.