Author's Note

A little blip of our favorite villain's past life. I thought it would be interesting to write about.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and her alone.

Once upon a time, I killed the woman I loved. He sat the quill down and placed his forehead in the long, white, freezing fingers of his shaking hand.

Tom Riddle. Weak, vulnerable, scared. No. Never. Upset. His anger was flaring, his eyes flashed red, the objects on the table in front of him trembled as his magic flared, striking out at anything around. A vase shattered on the window before he calmed himself again.

He grabbed for the quill again, writing furiously.

I had met her at Hogwarts. She had been in Hufflepuff. I don't ever recall ever noticing her before that time in potions she was called on to answer several questions and got them all wrong. I remember watching her face turn red and hearing the sniggers of my fellow Slytherins. I ignored them and listened to her soft voice as she struggled to answer the question asked.

I remember the professor had given up and called on me to answer, I replied automatically, not even moving my gaze from the short girl sitting several feet in front of me.

Tawni Taylor hurriedly snatched up her potions supplies and shoved them all in her bag. She wanted to get out of that stinking dungeon room before any more of those Slytherins could laugh at her.

"Miss Taylor!" the professor called to her, "I would like to speak with you," he growled, most unfriendly.

Tawni sighed and dropped her school bag back onto the table, and shuffled up to the front of the room. Tom Riddle was also standing at the Professor's desk.

"Miss Taylor, Tom Riddle will be helping you with your potions classes. You seem to be having trouble keeping up. We can't have you falling behind later in the year. Mr. Riddle will tutor you until I am completely satisfied that you have caught up. You both are dismissed."

That's how it began. That's how that little vixen wrapped me around her pinky finger until I was so contorted I barely recognized myself.

We had been in fifth year then. Our meetings had been twice a week in a remote area of the library, and occasionally down in the dungeons in a spare potions classroom. After I stopped tutoring her, we still met in the library occasionally. We would talk about things.

"Hello Tom," she smiled up at him as he approached.

"Hullo," he replied, smoothly. He slid in the chair closest to hers and shifted it to face her. "How have your classes been going lately?"

"Just fine. They've seemed to get easier. I think it was the tutoring," she said, blushing a bit, "I don't think I have to ask about your classes. I'm sure they're just perfect," she stated, looking down at her books. She always seemed nervous around him. He had watched her with her friends countless time across the Great Hall and she never seemed nervous with them.

He toyed with that thought for a moment, and smirked to himself. He relaxed from his normal, rigid posture, and leaned back in his chair, as if he were lounging on the black leather couch in the Slytherin common room, "What makes you think I'm doing well in my classes?" he asked, his voice a fell a few octaves down to his natural, low drawl, he looked at her as if to burn a hole through her body.

"W-well, you just…it's just- you're so…smart…" she finished, stuttering and trying to look anywhere else but his eyes, which were pulling her in, she was almost hypnotized, it was incredibly unnerving and incredibly…alluring at the same time. She blushed at such a thought and stood up, "I forgot! I have some things to do back in the common room! I'll see you later Tom!"

Tom quickly stood from his lounged position, not really wanting her to leave, he reached out his hand, but before he could say anything, she had grabbed her book bag and had disappeared, tripping over her own shoes as she went.

He sighed and sat back down in the chair and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "I guess I scared her off…" he mumbled to himself.

The year I set the Basilisk loose in the school was the year I figured out that I had fallen in love with her. I had fallen in love with her awkwardness around other people, her intelligent conversation, her ability to make me quiver and tear down the fortress around my frost-bitten spirit.

"Tom, do you know anything about who this…Slytherin's heir is, do you?" Tawni asked, sitting across from him on a cushioned window seat in the farthest corners of the library.

"No, I don't." he said with a sigh. "It's unnerving to think that there is something as dangerous as that monster that's roaming around the school."

Tawni looked worriedly out the window and sighed. "I'm just…it's just…" she trailed off.

"What is it?" Tom asked, "What's wrong?"

He moved closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She looked down at his hand, it had moved to the base of her neck and his thumb was rubbing her collar bone.

"I'm just scared. It's frightening, I don't know how you can patrol the corridors at night as Head Boy. I'm frightened for you," she grabbed his hand with her own, petite, soft fingers and held onto it.

Tom looked into her eyes. She had grown so much in two years. She wasn't a mousy little girl who barely kept up in her classes anymore, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen or touched. And he wasn't at all inexperienced with women, but she seemed utterly new and completely different from the faceless and meaningless shags he had with the desperate sluts of the school.

He reached his other hand up and placed it on her cheek, "You don't have to worry about me," he whispered.

"But-" before she could say anything, he captured her soft lips in his own. The hand at the base of her neck moved to the back of her neck, squeezing gently. A small gasp escaped her lips as a hand slip up her thigh, under her skirt. She pulled away, surprised at his forwardness and pressed herself against the cement bricks behind her, he removed his hands from her body reluctantly, and slid away also.

"Sorry," he mumbled, staring her down, wishing to do so many things to her delicious body…

"Tom…?" she looked at him hesitantly, "What did that just mean?" she asked. "I mean, I know you've been with many other girls and I don't want to mistake this as something that it isn't. Did that even make sense? Oh, I feel so foolish…"

Tom stared at her in disbelief. Could she not tell that she was more than those other girls combined? Obviously not. He'd have to spell it out for her.

"You are not one of those brainless whores that I use for amusement Tawni," he said, perfectly blunt about it, "They aren't worth what you're worth. They were just silly little girls, you are a woman so superior to them. You are more to me than anything in this world Tawni." To prove his point, he crushed his lips against hers once again, as if sealing his words, "Please tell me my feelings aren't mislead," he said pulling away and looking at her seriously.

She looked down at her lap, unsure of herself, and glanced up at him. He reached out and grabbed her hand, his heart beat quickened when she started speaking.

"Your feelings have so confused me over these past two years, Tom. They've caused me such torment…those girls you would flaunt around the school like a new broom would make me jealous. I had always wanted to be that girl, but then the next day, you would throw them away like they were trash and go onto the next girl. I feel…I feel so confused right now-I need proof you wont just throw me away like those other girls. If you are, it would hurt even worse than not being with you at all."

"Tawni," he started, "I already told you, you're nothing like those girls. I tossed them aside like that because they really were, how you put it, trash. But You, you're completely different! I truly have deep feelings for you, please, just at least give me chance. I'm begging, Tawni. I beg to no one. Isn't that enough proof for you?"

His searing gaze locked Tawni in. She couldn't look away. She was frightened, apprehensive, and unsure of what to do. His hand reached up to her cheek again and slid down to her throat, where he caressed her collar-bone again. She shivered at his touch and shuddered away from him.

"I…" she paused, standing shakily. He stood too, towering over her, he was about a foot taller than she. She sighed and looked up at him, his eyes were determined, willing, and seemed completely true. How could she not believe him? She moved forward and locked her arms around his torso. Her answer.

Tom let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding, and wrapped his arms around her as well.

We stayed together for the rest of that year. We were together as much as possible. Of course, rumors filtered through the school that I was only trying to seduce her, that she was being lead on by me. The snake tempting it's prey to climb into it's mouth, just to see if there was something stuck in it's throat.

She had been the most beautiful of creatures in my eyes. The one thing that haunted me at night. She plagued my dreams and thoughts, and she seemed to consume me. It wasn't enough that she was my girlfriend. She had to be mine. Truly mine. I wanted her in more ways than I could imagine, but above all, I wanted her as my wife.

Tom snuck up behind Tawni as she waited for him by the Hogwarts gates. They were going to Hogsmade today. It was early spring and the snow had all melted and the ground had begun to fall. He silently approached from behind, and sneakily slithered one arm around her waist and the other over her mouth so she wouldn't scream. He felt her tense against him and shivered at the pleasure it gave him. He loved the fear he felt radiating off of her.

Quickly, he spun her around and kissed her before she could say anything. "Good morning," he whispered darkly into her ear.

She shivered. Tom couldn't tell if it was from the chilled, early spring air or the breathing in her ear, but it sent another wave of pleasure through his body.

"You are such a git," she said, pulling away from him, pretending to pout.

He grabbed her around the waist again and pulled her forcefully against him, "That's why you love me though, right?" he whispered in her ear again, and she shivered deliciously once more. A smirk crossed Tom's lips, he lightly nipped at the sensitive skin where the ear met the neck. A small sigh escaped her lips as he trailed more little nips down her neck.

"C'mon," he said, pulling away suddenly, "let's go."

He grabbed her hand and began walking down the road towards the town.

"Tawni?" Tom stopped in the middle of the path.

"Yes?" she turned to him, looking at him with inquiring eyes.

For the first time in his life, Tom had lost his confidence. "Hmm. Never mind…" he said, looking away, a light blush crept up his neck.

They returned to the castle just before dusk, when the castle just started to light up. It always amazed Tawni, however many times she saw it. Tom looked amusedly at her amazed face. "You look like a first year," he said, smiling. Yes, smiling.

She turned to him, "It's hard not to be amazed by the sheer beauty of the place. Someone could live here their whole life and not even see everything in the castle. It amazes me. It's almost overwhelming sometimes."

"Yes, it is beautiful."

He walked her to the Hufflepuff entrance and then headed his own way towards the dungeons. He lightly fingered the small, square box he kept in his robes pocket. He reached in and pulled it out. He examined the ring inside of it. The diamond sparkled brilliantly in the dim light of the torches.

He closed the box shut and pressed it to his chest. "She will be mine soon," he whispered to himself.

But she wasn't to be mine. After all the time I had spent with her, I had never once brought up her parents. I had never thought of it. She had been so brilliant, so gifted, and so beautiful that I had assumed she was of pureblood. We had just finished school, I had only just begun my plan for ridding the world of the mud-bloods that tainted our race. We were on a date, having met at her apartment in Diagon Ally, and we were now heading down the streets to some little restaurant she had said was delicious.

"Tom," Tawni began, "I really want you to meet my parents. I've written to them about you and they're eager to meet you as well."

"When would the meeting be arranged?" he asked, looking over at her.

"Would next weekend be alright. They want you over for tea." She looked at him, with her big eyes, a little hesitant.

He paused for a moment, loving the apprehension on her face, then said, "That would be fine."

He met her in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Apparently, her parents lived in an apartment in Muggle London, within walking distance of the pub.

It was around noon when they knocked on the door. Tom could hear a woman speaking excitedly on the other side of the door and a man shouting something, obviously farther within the home.

The door was pulled open by a short, plump woman wearing a gray shin-length skirt and a dark blue tee-shirt.

"Tawni!" The woman screeched, pulling Tawni into a violently executed embrace. She released her death grip on her daughter and she turned to Tom, "And you must be my baby girls man. Tom. It's so wonderful to meet you!" To Tom's dread he was also pulled into one of those bone-crushing hugs, which he stiffly returned. "Come in! Come in! The tea is almost ready." She hurried them inside and sat them in the living room.

Tom looked curiously around the room. Every surface had a photo on it, and strangely, they weren't moving. They were frozen like the muggle ones that he saw all the time when he lived at the orphanage.

There seemed to be nothing magical about the house either. Maybe her parents just liked living like muggles. He couldn't imagine why, though.

"Do your parent's enjoy not using any magic?" He asked.

Tawni looked at him strangely. "What do you mean? They can't use magic, they're muggles, didn't you know that?" she said, as if she had told him a thousand times.

Tom froze. "Muggles? You're muggle-born?"

"Yes, I thought you knew…" she trailed off as she turned to look at him.

Fury was bubbling up inside on him. She was a mudblood! A filthy, low life mudblood! How could he have ever gone so long and not ask about her lineage? He felt unclean, he felt angry, but most of all, he felt betrayed. He suddenly wanted to leave. He wanted to go and wash his clothes, his body. He had touched a mudblood, he had kissed her, he had wanted to marry her! She was the very thing he wanted to kill!

Without thinking, he drew his wand and whispered those two deadly words, "Avada Kedavra!"

Tawni dropped dead without a sound, a look of concern on her face. Tom shuddered as he stared at her lying in an odd position on the floor. Her mother walked in, holding the tea, and screamed when she saw Tawni's body lying on the floor. Tom quickly silenced the fat sow and then did away with the father as he came rushing in to see what the screaming and the crashing dish wear was about.

Tom looked down at Tawni again. There was a sharp pang in his heart as he stared into her glazing eyes. He felt like something was stuck in his throat. He felt like someone was squeezing his heart, and for a moment, just a moment, he regretted killing her.

"It's too late now," he mumbled to himself.

A week later, he read about the murder in the Daily Prophet. Aurors were out looking for him, he was a prime suspect in this murder case. Too bad. He was having a nice little vacation in the middle of the Amazon. They wouldn't catch him.

Tom smirked to himself as he pushed through a thick patch of ferns. He had seen a particularly lovely snake slither off this way, and there she was, already coiled upon some ancient ruin Tom really had no interest in.

"What's your name?" he hissed at the snake.

"Nagini," she replied, not even turning to look at him.

"Would you like to be my companion?" Tom asked. He had a brilliant plan.

The snake contemplated this offer for a moment, then lazily slithered off of her perch in the sun and slid up Tom's body, finally wrapping herself around his neck.

He smiled evilly, he was beginning his first steps in creating the world's most powerful wizard, Lord Voldemort.