The professor calls out my name.

"Riddle, Tom!" I had never liked it – there are so many people with the name Tom. Why couldn't I have been named something different, something more magical?

I sat down on the chair, as the Sorting Hat was placed on my head. I had been confused when I'd read about the Sorting. A Hat? This was the school of wizardry! For people with magic! People who were special, like me.

"Tom Riddle."

"I'd prefer it if you didn't say my full name."

"Why not?"

"I don't like it. I didn't choose it. And, anyway, I know that I belong in Slytherin. I am everything a Slytherin should be."

"And not an admirer of Muggles. Well, it seems that this is the easiest Sorting I have ever Sorted. SLYTHERIN!"

The hat added one final message.

"Be warned of the darkness within you, Tom."

I take of the hat quickly and put it down, walking over to join my fellow Slytherins. I think mine was the shortest Sorting out of them all – it seemed to take only seconds.

I grinned. I knew that I could be a great wizard. I was special. I was in Slytherin.