The Love of a Snake A Tom Riddle Story
We walked down an overgrown path, just me and him, side-by-side...
Together for always...
...Right?
Our first day as fully-fledged Witch and Wizard, the world was our playground, and we had no curfew.
He grasped my ice cold hand in his soft, warm one; he no longer asked why my hands were always cold, even when it was 100+ degrees outside.
It was just a natural thing.
No longer questioned, always accepted, just because.
We decided to hang around on the swing set for a while.
It was an un-spoken agreement, of course.
We didn't need to speak-aloud when we were together.
If I had known then what he would tell me that night, I probably could have stopped him.
I wouldn't have been immobilized by shock as he told me of his plan and then walked away with only a gentle, 'Farewell' as his last words sunk in.
That's the day I died.
I felt betrayed, hurt, and even colder than usual.
I stalked back to my apartment without any emotion in my mismatched eyes.
I did not cry.
I had long since outgrown such childish pretenses.
Weaknesses.
Only the weak will shed tears for what they cannot change.
I climbed into bed, fully clothed and shivering.
The next day, I knew what path Fate had led me to; I had no doubts of whether or not I wanted to travel it.
The path of Death.
I tried to track his progress even though he had left me behind, though I lost him after he abruptly quit his employment at the dark wizards' pawn shop, Borgin and Burke's.
I spent the better part of my first two years out of school researching the Dark Arts, memorizing everything I could and always looking for new ways to kill.
During that time I had noticed strange occurrences that, even though the Ministry couldn't see it, all led to a powerful Dark Wizard whose name at that time was unknown to me.
He had a pattern, a knack for going after rich witches and wizards who had incredibly valuable items in their possession.
This did not bother me; between his attacks and mine the Ministry was completely lost; they all figured it was two people working together to confuse them.
That Dark Wizard and I had so far not yet met each other.
Little did I know, that was about to change.
I was having a drink at my favorite magical pub, the Three Broomsticks, in Hogsmeade.
A handsome young man, about my age, with rather reptilian features, offered to buy me a drink.
I, of course, had already had quite a few drinks, but if I didn't have to pay, all for the better, so I allowed him to buy me a Fire Whiskey.
He made several brave attempts at small talk while I, meanwhile, was giving him my Viper-Stare-Down-Treatment.
Oddly enough, he seemed intrigued, almost...
Entranced...?
I thanked him curtly for the drink and turned to leave but before I had taken more than half a step I felt him grab my hand.
I stopped.
I turned and glared at him.
The last one to dare touch me was mysteriously never seen or heard from again.
"What?" I practically screeched at him
The weird thing was, he didn't seem at all intimidated by my icy cold glare or by the way the room suddenly became several degrees colder, in fact, he looked like he had expected it.
And his hands were so warm...
So familiar...
"Who are you?"
My name is Lord Voldemort.
I whispered a few choice words; those boys were going to pay for teasing me.
Another boy, one of the few watchers, a year younger than those boys – my age – who was handsome, devilishly handsome, walked towards me.
I abruptly turned and left.
He abruptly changed course to follow me.
I weaved through hallways and passages; he weaved through hallways and passages. I took trick routes to nowhere; he took trick routes to nowhere. We were so evenly matched that it became a game, but as soon as it became a game, I lost.
He was a better game player than I was; he knew it was a game before I'd even guessed it was one.
He cornered me.
Ironically, it was in the courtyard where those boys had teased me that I was trapped.
We almost needn't have walked the length of the school twice.
But we did.
He reached out for my shoulder.
I balked.
I shrunk away from his hand, into the shadows. I gave him my Viper-Stare-Down-Treatment.
For the first time in my life, it didn't work.
He laughed.
I turned away, because I couldn't let anyone see the release of emotion that played across my face, the confusion – surprise – was that great.
"Your eyes are exquisite," he murmured.
My turn to laugh.
My orange right eye and blue-black left eye were anything but 'exquisite'.
Still.
Exquisite.
Later the same day
"Why haven't I noticed you before now?" My cursed quietness, the reason I hadn't spoken for the nearly three hours in which he hadn't left. "We must have had classes together."
We did – we had all of our subjects together.
That wasn't uncommon among two Slytherins in the same year.
Still.
My stomach suddenly rumbled.
We both glanced at it.
He then turned to the setting sun, close to completely gone.
"You must be hungry."
I shrugged.
I'd gone without dinner too many times to count or care.
He must have realized that I didn't want to face the warm, friendly attitude of the Great Hall, for it to taunt me as it always did.
"We don't need to eat in the Great Hall."
I didn't want to eat.
"I don't want to eat," I replied quietly, unconsciously.
"We don't have to eat, then."
I shivered suddenly, freezing as always.