A/N: This is written for the Hogwarts Games in the Long Jump. I had to write a fic featuring Tom and based on the theme of his half blood status using the prompt childhood dreams.
)o(
Like all orphans, Tom had dreamed of what his future could have been. He had imagined thousands of times a couple arriving on the doors of the institute and declaring how they needed to see their son who had so tragically been taken from them. They would seek out Tom and the once broken family would be reunited once more.
His delusions had not lasted forever.
Tom was not weak and pathetic like the other children. He did not have images and fantasies that would never come true and were destined only for fictional tales created purely to make someone feel better without any trace or element of truth or logic. Soon, Tom had pushed those thoughts from his mind and forgot they existed.
However, the desire for a fantasy involving his parents had existed, but in a very different way.
Now, twelve with a snake badge embroidered on his chest, Tom focused on the aging text in front of him lit by the dying candle beside him. Name after name flashed up at him. None gained his attention, but it did not matter. He battled on the talisman in him lit and burning. He needed to find the name Tom Riddle.
It was his new dream. He would no longer be reduced to an unimportant mudblood orphan, but an intelligent and impressive young man whose lineage was as pure as all of the other boys he associated with. He would no longer have to fear that he was tainted by a muggle and his greatness would be ensured.
He just had to find the name.
For years, Tom searched. He did not yield or flinch. He pounded through every book and text with the belief that the next would provide the name and confirm his dreams.
They never did.
Just like his other hope, Tom was forced to push it away. He had to ignore his purposely longing and pretend that the desire to be declared a pureblood did not continue to pump inside him. He had to imagine it did not matter.
He had to ignore the desire that another dream had been taken from him.