The Choices of a Dark Lord

by anonymous1222

Alt-Fic: After killing Myrtle, Tom Riddle decides that the risk of creating a horcrux is too great. As such, he seeks another means of achieving immortality. But his goal seems to be cut short after he is killed in a suicide mission involving several members of the Order. When an orphaned Harry enters Hogwarts years later, a Dark force threatens to return to the wizarding world.

Alt-Fic.

Prologue:

June 13, 1943

Young Tom Riddle watched as his Basilisk slithered back to the Chamber of Secrets through the secret entrance beneath the sink in the girl's bathroom. With a haunting smirk on his pale face he turned to the most recent victim of his attacks, Myrtle. Moaning Myrtle, the annoying mudblood with no friends. It would be hours before anyone would notice she was missing, making her the perfect piece in his plans.

From within his bag he pulled out an old leather-bound book, its cover black and worn through years of neglect. Carefully, lest he cause damage to its fragile pages, he opened the book to the chapter titled "Horcruxes." He sat down and placed the book between him and the girl, ready to begin the ritual that would move him one step closer to his goal of mastering death.

Wand in hand, he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths as he ran the procedure through his head once more. As talented a wizard as he was, this was very dark and very difficult magic. Even the smallest of mistakes had dire consequences, and he was not going to suffer failure. Not when power was so close.

But then a thought occurred. In his learning about Horcruxes Tom knew that he would have to remove a part of his soul to create the Horcrux, but he never considered what that would mean for his power. He sought immortality, but if losing part of his soul meant losing part of his magical power as well, would it be worth it? Adalbert Waffling's first Fundamental Law of Magic states that tampering with one's soul came with severe and dangerous consequences. He wanted to live forever, but not at the cost of becoming weak. Immortality was not worth the fractioning of his power.

If he were to rise in power as Lord Voldemort he needed to be at full strength, and as far as he knew once a Horcrux was created there was no going back. He could not take the chance. Anger rising due to the number of risks he had to take studying the dark objects whilst under the ever watchful eye of Albus Dumbledore, Tom slammed the book shut, causing the upper part of the cover to break off. He shoved the book into his bag and stood up. He would find another way to achieve immortality. Something that he knew would not risk the loss of his magical abilities.

Tom looked back at the sink that now covered the Chamber's secret entrance, "Thank you," he said in Parseltongue to the Basilisk who had very likely resumed its slumber, "You're going to have to sleep for a while. But one day, the heir of Slytherin will return and we will finish our work," he stepped over Myrtle's corpse and walked out of the bathroom with a smirk on his face, "But first, I have a half-giant to frame."