The following is the truth about what Lord Voldemort (aka Tom Riddle Jr.) did between books 1 – 4, because honestly, biding his time in an Albanian forest, yeah right. But here it is, the facts uncovered at last!
Let us begin with the end of the 1st book……….. Harry is holding the sorcerers stone, Quirrell is dead/dieing and Voldemort is pure spirit again. As he leaves he takes one last swoosh at Harry, causing him to lose consciousness. But why did he leave, why not take the stone then? I'll tell you why, he saw himself, reflected in Harry's glasses, and the once good looking Tom Riddle was horrified by his own baldness.
Now, Voldemort, being the conceited type, was scared of the thing that troubles middle aged men world wide hair loss, and so, he set out to regain his lushes locks.