A/N: Hey everybody, so before we get into the story I'd just like to let you know that this story is written for a challenge created in MoonlightForgotten's forum-The Houses Competition. Feel free to leave reviews of what you think and be sure to look forward to more stories from me, you can check out my latest story-Lying, which is another story I wrote for this competition.

While you're at it, if you love roleplaying and love Harry Potter then come on down to my own forum where you can enter the magical world and live your dream of being a witch and/or wizard, it's called Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Please note that this is partly an AU story with some of my own characters though it is set back in the Tom Riddle Era. I do not own the characters created by J.K Rowling , nor do I own Harry Potter, please give the credit to her.

This story may contain the use of course language, reader's discretion is advised.

Competition Information~

House: Hufflepuff

Category: Short Story

Prompts: Receiving A Letter (Action/Event)

Word count: 2,365

Winds were blowing, the sun was shining, everything seemed to be perfect on the fine sorting day of Hogwarts. September had just rolled in and all the students were gathered in the Great Hall to watch the sorting of the first years. Little did they know that this was only the beginning of a terrible fate, as one of the first year students was none other than Tom Riddle with the assistance of a Grindelwald descendant.

Shortly after a few other students were sorted one girl in particular was sorted into Slytherin. Her name was none other than Samantha Mastronia Julie Grindelwald Valentina, though Sam for short. Nobody knew it, but she was the niece of the infamous dark wizard, Gellert Grindelwald. She had been sent to Hogwarts to gain knowledge about the Deathly Hollows in hopes that her uncle could use the information to strengthen his powers by finding the items that made up the Deathly Hollows.

Many names were called, until finally it was Tom's turn. He walked up the stool and sat upon it with an emotionless face. Unlike the other first years, he wasn't nervous nor did he care which house he would be put in. Though, he did have a hunch that it would definitely not be Hufflepuff as he found that house to be full of cowards, at least in his opinion. The sorting hat sat atop his head and without any second thoughts it declared, "Slytherin!". Once he had been sorted Tom made his way towards his house table where he sat near the end.

Once the sorting ceremony had ended Tom began making his way to the Slytherin common room, though the Slytherin prefect insisted on showing him the way. Not wanting to deal with conversing, Tom decided to just follow the boy assuming that he may just have some useful knowledge. Once inside, he glanced around before spotting the fireplace and moving to sit by it. He didn't get very far before the prefect spoke to him. "Now that we're away from prying eyes, I can educate you on the Wizarding world, Mudblood. You don't belong in this house." Tom was shoved from behind and fell to the ground.

Tom actually ignored the laughter that followed as he turned to glare at the Prefect, one that actually gave the much older boy pause before he steeled his gaze. "What's a Mudblood?" was all he asked, not recognizing the term. The prefect scoffed, "You don't even know what that is? It's you. You're obviously not a Pureblood. You're wearing second-hand robes for one thing. What were your parents? Muggles? Muggles are non-magical trash, if you don't know that either. If you have their dirty blood, then you're a Mudblood. Do you get it now? You don't belong in this house. You don't belong in this school. So know your place now." The other Slytherin students were gathering around now curious over the commotion.

Tom stood up, tilting his head. Though his features were still impassive, internally he was actually worried. He'd never considered that he'd have no magical parent whatsoever. But no, that wasn't possible. He was sure that his father was a wizard. Likewise, he didn't consider that he was a pureblood either. If his mother had been a witch, she'd be alive and he wouldn't have grown up in an orphanage. He had something else to consider right now though. "Mudblood..." he repeated. "I'd be careful what you call me. It might give me ideas."

The Prefect rolled his eyes. "I'm ahead of you by several years and I have pure blood. What are you going to-?" He cut off as he suddenly began choking and coughing up what looked like mud. Everyone else took several steps backward as they watched the Prefect with wide disbelieving eyes.

Tom didn't say anymore as he simply went to sit by the fire, sitting in the armchair. Walking down to the Slytherin dorms, Sam had witnessed the commotion between Tom and the older boy. She didn't laugh like the others since she found it to be rather boring; the only reason for her staying to watch was due to her wanting to see some action happen.

Though when the older Prefect had started coughing up mud she was rather impressed rather than shocked. After all, this had been the first time she had seen wandless magic, other than by her uncle, and found it interesting how a 'mudblood' could perform said magic. After a moment or so she started laughing, not caring at all about the fact that one of the boys was coughing up mud.

She soon turned on her heel and strode over to Tom. "Oi, that was some bad-ass moves that you pulled on skeletor over there. So, how'd you do it? After all, it's not every day that you see someone preform wandless magic, so pray tell." She asked, with a smirk. Unlike the others, she wasn't intimidated by Tom as she was used to being around someone with powerful magic such as her uncle.

Tom instantly looked up as someone approached him, watching the girl with calculating and guarded eyes. As a female student with the same badge took the still vomiting boy out of the room, he just responded, "I've been performing magic like that since I was in diapers. It was child's play. If anything, I let him off easy.." He took note of a few other things as he studied her gaze; he had never been fond of others intruding on his personal space. "Most people introduce themselves before talking to another." Despite his words, he notably didn't give his own name, though it was more due to despising it fervently.

Samantha rolled her eyes, giving off a bit of sass. She took note of what the boy had said before responding to his last words, "the name's Samantha, and you are...?"

"My name is Tom Riddle." Tom answered, though he didn't mention his middle name as it was even more embarrassing than the first, as he was aware of what it had made the orphanage staff think. He then added, "you'll receive a message tomorrow night to meet me somewhere." He didn't mention where, as he had no location yet, but he would have somewhere by then. "Leave me be for now. I have much to research."

Sam merely crossed her arms as she listened to his words. She found the boy to be rather odd, not that she didn't mind it, but there was just something off about the boy that seemed to some how peek her interest. Taking him up on his offer she replied, "very well" before she turned to leave towards the girls' dormitory.

During breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he had searched for a suitable place for what he had in mind, having only gone to the Great Hall to pick up some food before heading off to search. He had also searched during his free period. He had already found something interesting, but he would keep that for himself. For what he had in mind, he would use the abandoned corridor that he had found.

Making his way to the corridor in question after Astronomy class, he went to a random classroom and took out some parchment and a quill. He wrote out a message in an elegant letter that read, 'Follow these directions and it will lead you to a classroom in an abandoned corridor. Come here now and I will make it worth your while.' He sent it to those in Slytherin that he had noticed had darker instincts, which was the vast majority it seemed. Once written, he folded it up neatly and placed it on the floor. He had read that you could make your own spells, so he had developed two while searching for this occasion. He believed that he already had them down. He took out his hand and pointed it at the parchment. "Congero." The parchment multiplied to make what was the required number that he needed. Once that was done, he cast, "Mitte", while picturing those that he wanted to have the message. The parchments disappeared, sent to the desired recipients. If anyone else but them got a hold of them, they wouldn't be able to open the messages. He just sat down at a desk and waited then. It was after hours, so only those willing to break the rules would show up. That would cull the weak-hearted.

Abraxas Malfoy, Alphard Black, and Zevi Prince, fellow first years, were the first to arrive, the curiosity plain on their expressions. They seemed to lose some of their interest when they saw it was him. Purebloods then. Well, tonight would teach them not to underestimate him. Next to arrive were Sam and her good friends, Olive Hornby and Zachary Lestrange.

Once they got there Sam smirked, "you better live up to your promise, Tom, tell us why this is worth our while." She commented, being sassy just for the fun of it. Tom merely offered her a smirk at her words. "Patience." He waited a little longer as other Slytherins started coming in, about half of Slytherin House it looked like. Well, that would be enough to spread the word around the school. The other Slytherins looked just as disappointed as the first three to see that it was him, which he ignored.

He stood from the desk and started to speak, but the students all started to leave before he could get a word out, and he hissed out an order to his familiar. Instantly the door to the classroom slammed shut as a large white snake brushed against it, hissing at the students who'd been leaving, all of whom jumped backward. "Now that you've all met Silvanus... I think you'll actually enjoy this. As I'll be giving all of you the opportunity to hurt the 'Mudblood.'" The Slytherins all looked at him in surprise, their interest seeming peaked again. "The best way to show you my power is to exhibit it. So we'll have a dueling contest. If you like what you see, then I will teach you some of my abilities."

"Some of us are older than you," a fourth year boy pointed out.

Tom merely raised an eyebrow. "So was your prefect." There was a pause at that. He smirked confidently. "Who's first then?" he asked, looking around the room to see many nervous faces.

Suddenly, a female voice broke the silence. "I'll take you on, as long as you're actually a challenge." Sam commented, crossing her arms with a smirk. She didn't doubt that the boy was most likely more powerful than her, however she wasn't going to sit around and let this opportunity go to waste.

"First year first, how ironic. We'll just go up a year every duel then, shall we? Seven duels in total." As this little exercise was about showing off, Tom waved a hand rather than his wand, the motion causing telekinesis to clear them dueling space as the other students moved away to give them room. Honestly, he was just more used to using telekinesis without a wand, as it was something he'd always been able to do for as long as he could remember. He already had his wand out, so he raised it and took a dueling stance in the middle of the floor. "Ladies first."

And so the duels commenced and in all honesty, they had all been quite close; and the last four had ended up in draws.

Many weeks past since the duels and Sam and Tom had already began to start working on gaining followers. The first few followers being none other than Abraxas, Olive, and Zachary; and of course the entire Slytherin house obeying their every command out of fear. Tom and Sam had been planning a very special meeting with a very powerful wizard, in fact, this meeting was with none other than Grindelwald himself. However, they still needed a reply from the dark wizard.

Eclipse, Sam's horned owl soared through the Great Hall as it dropped an all black, unsigned letter. Sam gave a smirk as she began opening the letter with her wand. Once open it read, "We will meet at the location and time that you have set. Make sure that you and your friend are careful, not that I don't trust you. This letter will burn up once you have finished reading it. I'm sure that you will understand why I will not be leaving a name myself." Upon reading this Sam's eyes showed something with dark intentions as the letter burned up in front of her.

Tom waited with his arms crossed, business-like. "Well? A favorable response?" He had never liked being kept out of the loop on things, especially when it was his future goals on the line.

Sam took a moment to think before turning her attention towards Tom. "Indeed. In fact, it will get us one step closer to our ultimate goal. We must prepare to sneak out tonight though. " She answered bluntly, however she kept the details at a minimal level as all attention was now drawn onto them due to the letter burning up.

Tom nodded. "That will be easy enough." No one in their house even really thought about it anymore when they snuck out, nor had the courage to challenge them when they did. And, honestly, the adults in Hogwarts were jokes. Besides, he'd made going out after hours an art by now. "I have to get to Herbology. See you next free period?" He asked.

Sam gave a nod, "as usual." She answered before standing up and heading to Potions. It was at this moment that Hogwarts would soon meet a terrible fate.