Florian Principle: when someone tries to get out of an unpleasant situation by an action that will put others in that very same situation.
Age, Tom had came to realize, wasn't important at all when it came to remembering one's life. People would always think about their past based on important events that changed them. Their age at the time would hardly ever cross their minds.
People would think about who they were when they lived in New York. And then who they were after that fight with a friend. And who they became after their first born.
Moments mattered. Age did not.
Tom knew that because it was how he thought about his life, too. More importantly, his moments had always been about his Father.
Who he was when he understood what living in an orphanage really meant (age: 5). Who he was when he started visiting the public library, searching in old newspapers for mentions of a certain Thomas Riddle (age: 8). Who he was when Dumbledore told him he was a wizard, and therefore his Father as well (age: 11).
The boy based his entire life around a person he had never even seen, but idolized anyway.
After all, Mrs. Cole always said, people needed something to believe in. Tom believe in his Father, and nothing else.
Once at Hogwarts, the boy had more time to look out information about his family. He didn't had to worry about cleaning the orphanage, or making the dinner, or watching the younger kids, or keeping distance from the older kids – all that on top of studying. Now, his responsibilities came down to doing homework – something most kids seemed to have a hard time grasping, but a welcomed relief to Tom.
The boy became assiduous frequenter of the Hogwarts' Library. He read all kinds of magical history books in hopes of spotting that name, but he never did.
Until one day, in a book called "The Sacred Twenty-Eight", kept in the restricted section of the Library where Tom only had access thanks to a special permission from prof. Bins.
Moment: Who he was when he learned his magical blood came from his mother, and not his father (age: 15).
Tom didn't know what to think, so he didn't think at all.
He was used to that sort of philosophy by now. Don't think about the Orphanage. Don't think about your muggle life. Don't think about the War. Don't think about your mother.
Don't think about your father.
Don't think about the Ravenclaw girl who died because of your mistake.
But eventually he had to start thinking about all of those things. He had to think about the Orphanage, which had been bombarded last week during a Nazi attack. He had to think that now the teachers where donating money to the Institution so he, the brilliant student, would not be homeless when he went back to his muggle life during summer.
Then he had to think that he would not have to live in that wrecked place if his mother had been strong enough not to died. Why didn't she use magic to save herself? Why didn't she use magic to send word to Riddle about his son?
Why?
Once you star thinking, well. It is hard to stop.
Tom found it funny how it was so positively easy to find the Gaunt's house, once he set his mind to it. While it took him 15 years to learn the true about himself, it only took him 5 days to find that his mother's family lived in Little Hangletton, about 200 miles from Little Whinging.
In the summer of 1943, Tom finally mustered enough courage to visit them.
Moment: who he was when he met his uncle Morphin (age: 16).
Tom would never forget what he saw in that house – if he could even call the place that. But more than that, Tom would never forget the words his uncle said to him.
During his classes Dumbledore would always say how wizards should never think themselves above muggles. How wizards should not hate or fear muggles. How we were all the same.
Why did he never told them about how it was the muggles who thought themselves above wizards? It was muggles who hated and feared them? They were not the same, and they would never be.
It wasn't in Tom's plan, to go to his father's Manor. He said to himself it didn't matter.
But it did.
The night was beautiful. The path to the Riddle's Manor was pleasant. The muggle villagers, coming back from their daily works, passed Tom by without really seeing him.
Once in the there, Tom saw a family gathered around a table seeming happy and confortable. It was dinner time, Tom realized. He hadn't eaten for about 12 hours now, but the simple thought of food revolted his stomach.
The boy looked around him, and seeing no one, he entered his family's house.
He had waited a long time, had imagined a thousand different reactions to his father learning of his existence.
Fear had never been among the options, but that was the only reaction he gathered. There was no surprise, no happiness. Only simple fear.
The older couple, whom Tom assumed were his grandparents, had seemed completely taken aback, thought. Struck by the resemblance between the unknown house-breaker and their son.
The boy understood then, that his father had known about him all along, but never told anyone about it.
Tom had to ask. Ask "Why". "Why would you leave? Why would you ignore me? Pretend I didn't even exist?"
His father blinked repeatedly, looking at him with wet sad eyes in which Tom didn't believe for a second. "I'm sorry," even his voice sounded like the boy's "She told me about you, but you must understand I... I couldn't. Not after what she had done to me... Not after... I would not survive if I stayed. If I had to-to take you in. I am... I am so very sorry"
Tom smiled at him.
Moment: who he became after he killed the Riddle's family.
Age? It didn't matter. He would become ageless.
Momentless.
He would become infinite.