The dark-haired boy sat down at an empty table in a secluded corner of the library, lifting a newspaper from the top of the stack in front of him. The paper was dated some fifteen years earlier, and he had to flip almost to the back before finding the article he was looking for. There was no photo, and the article only took up a small corner of the page; nevertheless, the boy glanced around the room guiltily once more before beginning to read.
THREE KILLED WHILE ASSISTING MUGGLES
Three wizards were killed in London last week while attempting to save a family of Muggles from a burning building. Witnesses say the wizards appeared to be battling an unknown assailant while inside the building. "I seen 'em through the window," a witch who prefers to remain anonymous commented. "They was helping those Muggles to the door, 'n I heard 'em screaming, 'n then they was tied up 'n I seen 'em fall…it was no good." Truthfully, Magical Law Enforcement surveyed the scene as soon as the fire was contained and found the remains of the wizards, bound with chains that appeared to have been conjured magically. One member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement stated, "It's a hate crime. These wizards were punished for attempting to help Muggles. They were bound, unable to free themselves, and killed the same way Muggles attempted to kill us hundreds of years ago. It's barbaric." The Muggle family was also found dead amongst the wreckage. The attacker remains unknown, although he is presumed to be "an extremely capable wizard".
The boy finished reading the passage quickly, green eyes darting across the page. He had the tiniest of smirks on his face; one would think he was amused by the article. He made his way steadily through the stack of Daily Prophets, going chronologically. In every paper there was an article about the violent death of a Muggle or Muggle supporter, and every article mentioned the mysterious attacker. Finally, the boy reached a paper dated 1940—only four years previously. The headline of the paper read, "DARK WIZARD GRINDELWALD GAINS POWER; NORTHERN EUROPE CRIES FOR HELP," and featured a picture of a wild, gleeful looking man. He was in his fifties, but he had a youthful, energetic aura about him that could be detected even in the picture. He was grinning at the camera, and his smile was at once charming and sinister. The boy stared at the picture, which winked at him before turning to someone out of frame and saying something, laughing wildly. The article talked about the man, Gellert Grindelwald, calling him "a charismatic—and extremely dangerous—dictator" and "the mastermind behind all the Muggle killings of the last quarter-century". The man was powerful, no doubt about it, and the boy read the article hungrily, his eyes alight with excitement and envy.
He knew, though, that Grindelwald's reign of terror couldn't last much longer. He had made far too many mistakes—this "For the Greater Good" thing, for example. It couldn't be clearer that the man hated Muggles and any connection to them, so why not use the truth to intimidate? Fear was a far more effective weapon than uncertainty. The sixteen year old grinned. This man, while respectable, was going about it all wrong. When he made his rise to power…nothing would go wrong. He would never be described as a mere 'man'.
A flicker of red flashed in his eyes, and was gone. Tom Riddle stood, picked up the papers, and with a wave of his wand returned them to their places. He turned on his heel and strode off to dinner.
**Please review! Did you like it? Not? Was it boring? Should I continue?