C1: Tom makes a mistake
For the first time in his life, Tom was sure that his mask had slipped. No. Not slipped. Broken. The careful, blank mask of neutrality which Tom had learnt to wear since he was a child, had broken today. Tom was sure that if he could look into a mirror, then a messy, wavy-haired boy with deranged looking grey eyes and dark circles, wearing not-so-thoroughly-washed clothes would have looked back at him. Tom's anxiety, excitement, entirely sleepless nights and mostly untouched meals were to blame for his situation.
For his entire fifth year, Tom had studied. No. Not studied. Researched. About how to make sure that he became someone in this world. More precisely, about how to go in the future and learn about how great the wizarding world would be under his rule. He wanted to see how all the purebloods licked a poor, orphan, half-blood's boots. So Tom researched. To make a time-turner, which would propel him forward in time by at least 55 to 60 years. And he had succeeded. But there was nothing surprising in that. Tom Riddle was the Greatest Sorcerer to be ever born. He failed at nothing. He never made a mistake. But despite knowing and believing that Tom Riddle could never make a mistake, he was not sure if the time-turner would work. Or, how it would work. Whatever be it, he never wanted to die while travelling to the future. No. That was pathetic. Dying was pathetic.
So here he was, standing in front of the Wool's Orphanage in the middle of the night. He really would have picked a different time, but due to the air raids and attacks and kidnaps and all that disgustingly muggle stuff, all the children of the orphanage were prevented from going out of the orphanage. And Mrs. Cole never failed to keep a ridiculously close eye on Tom's whereabouts. And Tom wanted to travel in isolation. Completely alone. He did not want anyone to object or obstruct what he was doing. So he decided to sneak out of the orphanage at midnight, when no one would be awake and Mrs. Cole would have drunk herself to sleep.
'Enough', Tom scolded himself. He wanted his hands to stop shaking so badly. He wanted his legs to stop feeling like jelly. He wanted his heart to stop hammering in his chest.
So he took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm himself down and turned the key, closing his eyes at the same time.
--
Tom had expected some kind of storm to sweep over him. No. Not really. Actually, he was not sure what to expect. But nothingness had certainly not crossed his mind. His mind had only just started racing about what this nothingness meant when the strange sensations began. No. Not sensations. Sounds.
Suddenly, Tom realized that the silence of the void was so deafening that he could hear the sound of blood rushing through his veins, he could hear the rotation of the earth, the twinkling of the stars, the whispers of the trees, the song of the rain and then... it stopped. It all stopped. And he felt his feet landing on the hard ground with a jerk. He quickly opened his eyes and promptly threw up.
And the metallic tang of blood overwhelmed his senses. He quickly cast a "Lumos" and grimaced to find that he had thrown up blood. Lots of it.
But it was worth it. If he had really travelled through time, then it was worth it. And there was nothing a blood replenisher could not fix. A little blood was worth nothing compared to the glory he had brought upon himself. No. Not a little. A lot of Blood. But still...
Now, he had to find out what year it is. But the night was too dark for him to properly investigate anything. But he could hardly keep his thoughts straight. His mind spurred with different sorts of exciting ideas.
And he needed a shelter. At least for tonight. But then he remembered that neither the orphanage nor Hogwarts was an option here. So he decided to take a room on rent for tonight at the Leaky Cauldron. After everything was settled(hopefully), he would find something cheaper at the Knockturn Alley instead.
So, without further ado, he apparated to Charing Cross road and entered the Leaky Cauldron.