Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Never have, probably never will. However, I do own the universe that this will likely spawn in my head.

Author's Note: I wanted to thank TatraMegami for this idea actually. We were conversing earlier today and this idea was spawned and developed under Tatra's loving care. And thus do you already have this first little chapter that introduces the world. This is all starting in the Spring of 1942 which makes Tom Riddle fifteen, a fourth year in Slytherin House at Hogwarts.

Tom Riddle looked around the Slytherin Common Room and felt a sense of pride. After all, the room was his throne room in a manner of speaking. Here no one looked won on him. No one questioned him. He belonged and that was all he had ever really wanted. Was that so much for a boy of fifteen to ask of the world?

Come the summer he would be a nobody again. The thought had his lip curling into a snarl. He hated the thought of going back to that damn place. But of course no one at the school understood. How could they when he refused to tell anyone the truth of the matter.

Running a hand through his dark hair, the boy took a cursory glance around the room. Felix and Abraxas were deep in conversation, no doubt about what they would be doing once the summer ended. After all, it was the last year for both of them. They were looking forward to the things that they would get to do soon. As long as they stayed in contact with him, Tom didn't really care what any of them did. After all, they were all just pawns, a way to show his power and his status in the wizarding world. If they wanted to think that they were his friends than he was glad to allow them that delusion.

In another part of the room, Antonin, Phileas, and Even were tormenting the soft-hearted Alphard while his older sister looked on without doing a thing. It was rather amazing to Tom really. The whole structure of a family. Walburga always seemed ready to jump to the defense of her younger brother Cyngus or his two silly friends Orion and Phineas, but when it came to Alphard it was if she could bring herself to be bothered.

Was that what all families were like? There was one who just wasn't loved? Maybe that had been him.

An uncharacteristic pain shot through him in the vicinity of his heart and he gritted his teeth, forcing the thought away. The boy had learned at an early age that thinking about his family was futile. He might never know about them. And what could would it do him to dream about them if he would never know them? No, it was better for him to focus on his present and the things that he could control.

"You look awful thoughtful Tom."

Looking back over his shoulder, Tom surveyed and dismissed the eldest Burke girl. Maretta was her name. She was a rather plain thing with a squished face. She had more brains than discretion and he hated that about her. But he also knew that it was best, in this kind of situation, to play nice to a girl of such a distinguished family. "I'm always thoughtful," he countered working hard to keep the censure from his voice. "It's a rather naughty habit I'll confess. I'm told it makes me look too pensive."

The girl laughed. "It does," she agreed. "You get these crinkles in your forehead and around your eyes. They're rather unattractive. You're too pretty for that."

"And you're too stupid to be flirting with a boy when you have a fiancee waiting for you."

Tom's lips twitched at the sound of the acidic words. Maretta might be annoying, but her younger sister Elladora was another matter entirely. A year younger than him, though she did share his year, Tom was fairly certain that Elladora had inherited her sister's share of charm and beauty along with her own portion from the family. Though she could have quite the bite when she wanted to.

Maretta pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "There's no need to be cruel Ella," her sister snapped back. "I was only making some conversation."

"Is that what they call flirting these days?" Elladora asked sweetly. "I'll have to remember that the next time that I speak to Lucas Greengrass. I'm certain he'll be pleased to hear how many men you love to make conversation with."

Maretta's face turned an odd mottled color as she spun around and stormed out of the common room. Tom watched her vanish before turning back to the younger sister. "You, Miss Burke, take entirely too much pleasure from tormenting your sister."

Elladora shrugged as she clasped her hands behind her back. "Someone should set my sister on the right path. The last thing I want to see her doing is embarrassing the family by playing the little whore that she is. The day she realizes what a beauty she is not, I shall happily resign my duties," she said simply.

There was something in that ruthlessness that Tom could admire. It was yet another odd example of family that he had seen during his time at Hogwarts. "So did you stop by simply to save me from your sister's mechanisms?" he asked.

"Oh no, but that was most certainly a benefit," the girl granted. "Actually, I just came from the Great Hall and Professor Dumbledore asked that I... summon you to his office immediately."

Tom surveyed the girl carefully. He couldn't tell if she lying or not but she was smiling and she seemed very pleased with the news that she was delivering to him. "Oh does he?" he asked arching an eyebrow. He had never particularly cared for Dumbledore. Though he would always have one thing to thank the man for: Dumbledore had given him this world. That was something he would always owe the man for.

"Yes," Elladora assured him. "And he seemed quite insistent on it. No idea why, of course. He did not seem particularly interested in sharing his reasons."

He continued watching her for a few moments before he sighed and forced himself up from his chair. "Well than, I suppose I should not keep the good professor waiting."

Elladora arched an eyebrow as if she wanted to say something but then thought better of it. "I suppose we shall see you at supper then," she granted waving a hand as if she could dismiss him of all people!

The girl had plenty of cheek. Instead of feeling the need to reprimand her, he actually enjoyed it. Tom bowed to the younger girl as she sat down. "As you wish," he agreed. He straightened and clasped his arms behind his back as he turned and started back towards the entrance to the dungeons. The boys who followed him drew to attention when they saw his movement, but a wave of his hands had them turned back towards their own activities.

He did not need his followers to face Dumbledore. The man did many things, but hurting a student, even one whom he seemed to mistrust, was not a thing which the man could be named for. Besides, Dumbledore might actually have something interesting to say for once.