First year. First day.

July

Tom starred down at his little black shoes with silver buckles. Slytherin, well it seemed fit. A snake as his house mascot; he could speak to snakes which would make him immediately seem superior to the others of course…that was always a plus. Maybe this school wasn't only for nutters. Plus Slytherin only had accepted twelve first years. The house was obviously just for the elite. As if he needed more proof that he was better than everyone else. He walked down to the dungeon, starring at his shoes hitting the gray stone steps all the way down.

"Password?" inquired a wall.

"blueberry" Tom said coolly as though he had been doing it for years.

"Incorrect." responded the wall.

"What? No it can't be! The Slytherin Head told me it was." He said frustrated.

"You've been doped kid." said a nearby portrait of a green eyed, brown haired, regal looking lady.

Just as he was about to kick the wall and demand entrance, three black haired girls in black and green robes came into sight. They all had matching bobs and it was very hard to tell them apart. They were all taller than Tom, probably in fourth or fifth year, which made him a bit uncomfortable but he needed help.

"Excuse me…I'm having a bit of trouble getting into the…" He stuttered nervously.

"Oh look the little first year can't figure out how to get into the common room." said the girl farthest on the right.

"Maybe we should help him girls." said the middle one. "Would you like that little boy?"

Tom nodded. "Well too bad twerp." said the one on the left. "We don't think you deserve to be in Slytherin if you can't even get into the common room on your own."

The girl in the middle mumbled something to the wall and it moved aside letting the three girls pass and then quickly shutting in Tom's face.

Upset Tom stalked back up the stairs to the main staircase. He sat on the bottom step with his chin in his hands.

How could he have been so stupid? In a world full of magic, a viable password couldn't and wouldn't be Blueberry. And now he was locked out. He had nowhere to sleep, the corridors were bare and he didn't know any teachers that he could go ask to open the common room for him, well except Dumbledore whom he simply would not give the satisfaction.

"are you okay?" He heard a girlish voice ask.

"Fine." He mumbled trying to get her to go away and refusing to look at her.

"You don't look fine." she responded. "I'm Molly; Molly Wright not Molly Weasley. I'm in first year too. I saw you on the boats…why are you sitting out here?"

Tom looked up at her. She had blonde hair, which fell down her shoulders in big golden ringlets. She had blue eyes, an electric blue, which sparkled now as they stared down at me. She was very pretty with soft pink lips.

"got…got locked out…" he mumbled.

"Well don't you have an friends that will let you in?" she asked sitting down next to me.

"No…I haven't made any friends" he whispered in reply.

"Well…I'll be your friend." she said gripping his arm. "I'll be your friend and you can sleep in my dorm tonight."

"s'not allowed." Tom mumbled despite how much he'd like to follow the petite girl. "Can't go into another houses dormitory."

"well then…I'll sleep out here with you." She said firmly. "come on."

She stood, pulling him up with her and strode into the now empty great hall.

"So which house?"

"Slytherin." he responded. "you?" He had asked a question…that was a start.

"Ravenclaw. No clue why, I was always a real dunce in school. I think it may have been a fluke, me ending up here in the first place." she responded.

"I doubt that. You look brilliant, I bet your brilliant. I am usually right about these things too. You are intelligent and beautiful and smart and…" Oh spectacular now he couldn't shut the hell up.

"Well…thank you. I bet you aren't evil either." Not round her he wasn't. And it was then that Tom decided that Molly Wright was going to be his best friend and that he would never be evil to Molly Wright as long as he lived.

five years (and some month) later.

April

"Morning Tom." said Daniel, a fellow Slytherin boy, "Great job last night." he said a little more softly.

"Thanks" Tom whispered back happy about his recognition. He and his gang had gotten a first year Gryffindor who had refused Daniel a few days ago. They had beaten her and wiped her memory clean of the incident before getting a few hours rest and coming down for breakfast. The faculty hadn't noticed she was missing.

"Fancy breakfast with the boys?" Daniel asked pointing down the table a bit.

"No actually, I have a bit of homework to do for charms. Nasty subject but I need it for the OWLS so…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean, well see ya around Tom." he said before walking down the table to join the rest of our gang.

I grabbed three cranberry muffins and a bagel and wrapped them in a napkin before proceeding out of the hall and out the front doors into the grounds. I saw her, kneeling down, back turned to him, by the lake her blonde curls catching the sun. As he approached she turned and he saw her brilliant blue eyes.

"Morning Tom." she said in her beautiful legato voice. "You have the breakfast?"

I opened the napkin revealing the muffins and bagel.

"Mmm…cranberries." she said grabbing a muffin and taking a huge bite. "Yummy." she smiled.

What he did for one smile. Tom would do just about anything for Molly Wright…including lie to her, hide her, and publicly ignore her; all of which she had no idea were happening. Tom Riddle was a good kind, misplaced Slytherin who was Molly's best friend in her mind. She didn't know about him being the reason all the Hufflepuff Quidditch players slid off their brooms two minutes into their match against Slytherin last year, she didn't know about him and his friends torturing McNan a few months ago and she certainly didn't know that they tortured McNan solely because he had asked Molly out a few days before hand. He was good in her book, and he loved it. He loved her.

His friends on the other hand hated her. They hurt McNan because they thought she liked him. They wanted to put dungbombs in her dorm two years ago and only were only convinced not to by the idea of putting them in Dumbledore's office instead and blaming it on the Gryffindors. Molly Wright and Tom Riddle's friendship had to remain a secret because Tom's friends liked the evil Tom Riddle…and Molly Wright kept him good.

Sixth year

July

"How was your summer Tom?" Molly asked as they sat on the grand stair case after the feast.

"It was alright."

"It was hell wasn't it. You hate that orphanage. I know you do. I wish you could have come stayed with us, Tom…you would have been so much happier. I still don't understand why you…"

"I just couldn't come Molly. I'm sorry. I really wanted to but I couldn't. Maybe this summer." Tom said without any truth."

"I was thinking about staying here over the christmas hols. My parents would miss me but…I'd miss you if I left."

"you should go see your parents…" He said coldly. He couldn't risk his friends doing something. He just couldn't.

"We should sleep out here tonight. Like we did in first year, do you remember?"

Of course he remembered. The time before he ran the risk of being caught with her. The time where being with her wouldn't have been seen as wrong. The time before he was…well that brief time where he thought he could be one hundred percent good one hundred percent of the time.

"We can't." I said. "We aren't first years anymore. If they caught us we'd get detention."

"I don't care Tom. It'd be fun."

"No. I care." he hated this. He hated having to be mean in order to protect her.

"Do you love me Tom?" she asked suddenly.

He thought he was hallucinating. "W-w-why would you think that?"

"I know it is random…but…well we have been friends for six years but you've never dated anyone and…"

"Well neither have you!" Tom accused trying to get off topic.

"I know." Molly stated.

It was silent for a minute and I didn't get it. Then I got it.

"Wait you mean…you…?" Molly nodded and for a second Tom forgot about his friends hatred of this girl, or his own hatred of everyone but this girl and just focused on what he felt, and what she felt and soon he was hugging her and kissing her soft pink lips that he had first admired six years ago on these steps.

Down in the Slytherin common room

"I saw it." Peter Pinch said.

"and he looked?" asked Tom Michel.

"Happy. and Kind."

"Voldemort can't be nice. The girl must have used a love potion."

"Agreed a love potion." said Clark Renalds.

"If he were in a normal state, our lord would have her terminated. We've done it before…we can do it again." Tom Michel said.

"Agreed" the other two responded.

A few days later in the potions classroom.

"Tom, what are you doing still here, you don't want to be caught out of bed after hours?"

He had to ask. Peter wanted to know and was relying on him. "I know Professor I was just umm…wondering if you knew anything about a particular bit of dark magic….called a horcrux?"

"A….a horcrux. Where ever did you hear of that Tom?"

"Just in…a book…out of class reading. I came across the term and wondered…well what it meant. I assumed someone as clever and wise as you would know but…"

"Well of course I know Tom…a…a horcrux is a bit of a wizards soul."

"And how would you…go about making a bit of your soul…separate from the rest I mean."

"Well…it's a cruel thing Tom, truly terrible…to rip a soul apart but…you can only do it by…killing someone."

"And…then…well…professor I was wondering can you…can you only split the soul once…I mean…isn't seven the most powerful magical number?'

"Seven? Isn't it bad enough to kill one person Tom…but seven…and imagine the weakness created by making one horcrux…but to split your soul into SEVEN? I'm sure it could be done Tom but…"

"No need to feel uncomfortable Professor…I was just curious…"

"Well maybe you should put your curiosity to rest for the night Tom. mmmm? Go to bed now, Tom. Get some rest."

Tom exited Professor Slughorn's classroom. That had been…useful he supposed. To be invincible, to never die because you had back up souls hidden away, that seemed…intriguing. But Molly…Molly would die without him. Molly would never make horcruxes…she couldn't kill…and she'd never be with a killer…well there it was…he couldn't kill anyone.

Just then a high pitched scream ripped through the air. Tom ran up out of the dungeons and to the grand staircase where Peter and Tom Michel stood wands pointed at a blonde heap upon the ground. It was Tom's turn to scream. Molly lay motionless on the floor as Tom's two best friends tortured her.

Peter and Tom looked up and, seeing Riddle's disgust, smiled.

"What are you two doing?" he screamed at them.

'She's charmed you Lord." Peter said.

"But we know how to get you back." Tom finished.

"Like hell. She hasn't done anything to me. Get away from her." Tom Riddle said starting forward. "Did you not hear me…STOP!"

"Stupify!" Tom yelled at Tom Riddle.

"Protago" Riddle said, and the jinx rebounded in a flash. "Stupify!"

Tom Michel fell on the floor, limp. "Avad-" Peter began.

"AVADA KEDAVERA!" Tom yelled at Peter who was blown back by the force of the curse and hit a wall.

Molly shakily began to stand and Tom ran over to help her.

"You…you…"

"He won't hurt you again." he said to her firmly.

"You killed him." Tom nodded grimly.

"You killed him and…I'm in love with a killer."

"I only killed him because he was going to kill you Molly." he said calmly.

"murdered….killed…murderer…" Molly mumbled backing away from him…all of a sudden she was off. towards the front doors, through the grounds, and Tom ran after her yelling for her to stop, to listen but the minute she reached the edge of the grounds she spun and disaparated…out of sight…gone…forever. He loved her. He had given her his heart of glass and she had shattered it and left it out in the mud. ZFilled with more grief than a teenage girl after her first love cheated on her with her best friend, Tom made a decition.

He would never be nice again…that was it. All nice and good did for him was string him along with two lives for six years and get his heart broken. No good deed would ever be done cause all it did for him was get him punished. He couldn't do anything about Molly Wright, she had hurt him and fled and there was no way he could fix that. He couldn't be good anymore. He was wicked and it was too late for her to love him again and that meant it was too late for him to love her again. But it wasn't too late for him to take action to move forward. She had left him. She had rejected him. But he could get her back for it. He could find her. He could stop her heart and maybe that would heal his. If he couldn't have her love he could have her heart. He could kill her and show her the side of him he hadn't had around her before. And it was all justified. It was all her fault…she was the one who had left. He could kill her. He could split his soul with it, too. He could become invincible.