"Truly, Rosier, you can't possibly think this will work for you!"

Tom examined the crystal ball in his hand looking for an image in the smoke. Anything.

"Shut it, Lestrange! Of course I can!"

Honestly, Tom wondered if anyone has ever truly seen something in one of these pieces of junk. A placebo? Surly, if he couldn't see the future, no one could.

"It takes a preposterous amount of magic. Your core would be ripped to pieces—and that's only if you get it to work."

"Not you too, Nott!"

Tom was growing irritated as the smoke remained obstinately smoky and his 'friends' grew louder with their bickering. He lifted his gaze to find Rosier, Lestrange and Nott huddled around a decaying tome. From the look of it, it was something out the restricted section or possibly from one of their family's collection.

"What exactly are you three talking about?" Tom asked, more to get his mind off his Divination homework than out of curiosity.

Rosier seemed to chew on his words a moment. Lestrange and Nott traded glances.

"I'm to marry Cassiopeia Goyle." Rosier said. "In a year, after graduation."

Tom raised a brow at the seemingly random statement.

"I want to marry for love."

Nott huffed out a laugh. Lestrange got a strange pinched look on his face, as if he wanted to agree with Rosier but he knew it would never happen. Pureblooded society was one of arranged marriages and power plays. Love had no place among their world of dark magic and high stakes, especially as Riddle's followers, The Knights of Walpurgis.

"For love?" Riddle mused, "Whatever for?"

"Why curse myself to a home life of constant struggle and conflict? You know Cassiopeia, she's as mean as mean gets. Strong blood, pure… but she'd not bow to my will in a thousand years. I have no interest in that tedium. But with this," Rosier thumped a hand against the tome, sending up a cloud of dust, "I can summon my Heartbound, and even my father can't deny me when faced with magic that ancient and powerful."

Tom had secretly agreed with Rosier—married life held no appeal to him either. But it was the mention of Heartbounds that really caught his attention. It was a term he had come across once and only once before, though he had scoured the library—both the school's and Slytherin's secret collection—for any more information. He had read the passage over and over, so many times that he could recite it still.

Though there is no way to regain soul fragments after the creation of a Horcrux, there is a rumor of a woman, Sanguinna of the Bloody Briar, whom kept the madness at bay by finding and bonding with her Heartbound. There was no documented proof, but theoretically the soul healing and augmenting abilities of Heartbound couples could lighten a Horcrux's consequences.

Somehow, it hadn't occurred to Tom in his haste to find more information about Heartbounds to simply ask his friends.

"Oh?" Tom asked, barely able to keep his curiosity in check, "Tell me about Heartbounds, I haven't heard the term before."

"That's unsurprising really," Lestrange said, "It's a sort of obscure bit of wizarding lore. Honestly, I hardly believe in them."

"Yeah," Nott agreed, "Father used to yell at my Mother when she told me about Heartbound legends. Something about filling my head up with romantic nonsense. Like I enjoyed the stories for the romance! It was the power they held I was enticed by."

"Power?" Tom egged on, trying not to snap at them to get to the point.

"Oh, yeah. Heartbounds are two people with matching magical cores and are of the same soul. It's pretty rare to find them, like it only happens once or twice every five hundred years." Rosier said, "It's an incredible honor to have Fate allow you to find yours. Very respectable. Most Heartbound pairs become legend."

"Simply for having matching cores?"

"Not really. It's what they do with those matching cores. Great things. Impossible things. When the magical cores of two people match they—um, like, they resonate?" Nott said, unsure how to word it.

"It's like when two people of different cores work together on a spell, their magic is added together," Lestrange explained, "But when they match, their power is multiplied together. Exponential power, little effort. The same soul bit helps too."

"How so?"

"They are made for each other. Literally, two pieces of the same soul. Perfect for each other in every way. Like Arthur and Merlin."

"Were they Heartbound?" Tom asked.

"Some say they were. It would make sense." Nott shrugged.

"Let me get this straight." Tom said, turning to Rosier, "You are going to summon your magical soulmate that may or may not exist, so you don't have to marry Cassiopeia Goyle."

"Basically."

"Except it won't work." Lestrange added.

"Not a chance." Nott agreed.

"It will!" Rosier retorted.

"Why won't it work? Surly, it will take about as much magic as apparition? You are only transporting them to you."

"In theory, it will take as much magic as summoning them and even more to defy fate. The book even warns for the user to only perform on the Hunter's Moon, when their magic is most potent!"

"May I?" Tom asked, gesturing towards the book.

"Have a look." Rosier replied, holding the book out to him.

Tom balanced the crystal ball he still held in one hand and took the book in the other. The second his eyes meet the page a great ringing in his ears began and his vision went dark. Then, he saw a mess of black hair and vivid green eyes, staring into his soul.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle." He heard a voice hiss, fiery and furious, "It's always you, isn't it?"

Then, as soon as it came, it was gone again and he was left back in the library, a crystal ball in one hand and a decrepit ritual book in the other and the strange feeling that those eyes were familiar to him.

"Riddle?!" His followers were demanding, "Are you alright?!"

Tom blinked for a moment before catching the last wisps of startling green fading from the smoke in his crystal ball.

"Hmm. No worries." Tom calmed them, "Just a vision of the future."

"Maybe you should try that ritual then, Riddle." Avery suggested from beside him. Tom had forgotten he was there, he was so quiet. Truly, a model follower.

"What did you See?" Lestrange asked, "I've never been able to divine anything with those blasted things!"

"Nothing of consequence." Tom dismissed, "But may I borrow this? It seems to have a fair few interesting rituals in it."

"Sure," Rosier agreed easily, "I've a few months till the Hunter's Moon anyway."

Tom nodded, and returned to his Divination homework. Though he was writing an essay, his thought were a storm of green eyes and hissed words. He eyed the tome now sat upon his school bag.

He had no use for a soulmate. But unlimited power and prestige? Not to mention that this person's presence could alleviate the consequences of his plan to make multiple Horcruxes. Truly, this person would be more useful than any of his Knights. Yes, Tom had no need for a soulmate.

However, every Dark Lord needed a right hand man.