The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom lies before me. It is nothing. It is a joke. I feel the darkness flow through my veins, and there is nothing that can stop it.

The vapid mirth that resounds throughout the hallways irks me to my core. It is nothing but idle prater - frivolous and mundane.

There are much more important things to focus on.

Earlier this year I did some research on myself. Not only did I learn that I am a direct descendant from one of the Founders, the righteous Salazar Slytherin, but my family - until it was recently marred by my own mother's indiscretion - was one of the most pure in the wizarding world. Our power was derived from the pureness, and it culminated in my birth.

Young witches flock to me, because they know. They know the greatness that I possess. They know that one day I will lead the wizarding world to our rightful place. They want to be beside me. They want to carry on my name. They want to lend their services to my cause.

Honestly, I have not the time nor the desire for sullying myself in such a way. I have found a way to continue my legacy forever, all while under the watchful prying eyes of our Defense instructor - Albus Dumbledore.

Does he know that he actually pointed me in the direction of my future? Does he know that his own words have given way to the future, and one that he does not himself believe in?

I laugh internally at the absurd behaviors around me. I laugh at the girls that throw themselves at me. I laugh at the professors, including my own head of house, that can be manipulated for my own means.

My prefect badge shines on my lapel, it is a reminder of the beginning of my greatness that lies before me. And the rest of the wizarding world. There will be no room in our world for Mudbloods or Blood Traitors, including Dumbledore. He was the one that pushed for creatures like Rubeus Hagrid to attend the school, to sullen the name that Salazar Slytherin himself strode to make great.

I look down at the books that I now hold, both priceless to me. The first tells the tale of the Chamber of Secrets, the place that Salazar himself created to purge the school of undesirables. The second is my journal, in which resides my plans for the purging. I must make sure everything is perfect, that there is no way that any of this can be traced back to me. The future that Salazar Slytherin foresaw has begun and it is my duty to ensure that his desires are fulfilled.

My plans take months to come to fruition, I keep getting hampered by the administration. They are meddlesome at best, interfering at worst. There seem to be eyes on me at all times, at every turn of my head there is someone focused on me and each minute action. I feel that it all stems from Dumbledore, his blue eyes are sharply focused on me even now. They have been since the day that he walked into my ruddy orphanage, that place that I was forced to call home for so long until I came here. Hogwarts is my real home. It is where I feel like I can truly be myself completely. It is where my darkness grows. It is where my magic blooms. It is where I stand now and one day I will stand again as the sole ruler of the world that has openly taken me into its arms.

It is the world that I will reshape into my image. Witches and wizards will no longer hide in the shadows, as cowards, but rather walk in the sunlight and not be afraid to show the power that we possess.

Standing on the Grand Staircase leading to the Great Hall, I admire all around me. This is my destiny. This is my future. This is the reason I was born. This was preordained and established centuries prior. And this will all be mine.

"Tom," a female voice chimes from behind me, "did you understand the assignment on Horcruxes that Professor Dumbledore assigned? I mean, I don't know why anyone would be interested in such a nasty piece of magic -"

"Yes I did," I interrupt her. I look down at her robes and see the tell-tale signs of Ravenclaw house alongside her own prefect badge. "I understand it very well, and can see the advantages and disadvantages of having such an item." This vapid girl has no idea that I have already done my extensive research on the subject and am in the process of creating my own, my first of what will be many, Horcruxes.

"But you have to kill someone to create such an item. It is ghastly," the mindless witch continues to mutter much to my dismay.

"Yes, there is a balance in nature, and in magic. To create life where there was none, you need to take life. It is a matter of balance." I try and explain in the most basic terms that I can think of all while admiring the vantage point I have over the students that will one day kneel at my feet. "I can't expect you to understand."

"I understand the balance aspect, but I cannot understand why someone will go against nature so. One is born, lives, and dies. It is the natural progression. Why would anyone want to go against that?"

"Power. Power is not good nor is it evil. It is either held or is given up. It is that power that causes men to do the unthinkable." It is that power that drives me. It is that power that awoke in my soul the day that I found out I am a wizard. It is that power that awoke when I found out my history. It is that power that has me going every day in the commonplace routine that is spread before me. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

I leave with no further farewell, she is not worth my time. I bypass the Great Hall and look upwards, to my future, to my past, to my destiny. I look to the second floor ladies loo and the dark secrets that lie within.

Author's Note

House: Slytherin
Year: 7
Standard
Prompt: Tom Riddle's Era
Word Count: 1067