Chapter 3: The Hogwarts Express

Tom Riddle was mad. He was staring at Platform 9 ¾ wondering how to get in. There were five more minutes before the train leaves. It was 2 weeks ago, when he met Professor Dumbledore. The wizard told Tom everything about Hogwarts. Tom pulled out his new wand. IT was a Yew, Phoenix feather and was 13 ½ inches in length. Mr. Ollivander told Tom that the wand was really powerful. Tom just nodded and thought in his mind that Mr. Ollivander was a strange man. After he got his books and wand, he was forced to go back to the orphanage. Tom loved it there now because now he could threatened the other children with his new wand pretending to say ridiculous words like Abra-doe-sanks. Tom laughed every time when the children cowered in fear. It was after Mrs. Cole threaten Tom that she wasn't going to take him to King's Cross then he stopped.

On the crispy cold day of September 1st 1938, it was the day to go to Hogwarts. Tom got up early and pestered Mrs. Cole every minute until they finally got to King's Cross Station. She muttered about the people there and said that she would pick him up for the school holidays. Tom nodded quickly and left without a good bye. He was wandering around the station until he saw platform 9 and platform 10. He stared at it for a while and thought about getting into the station. He stared at it for a whole minute until someone tapped his shoulder. It was a tall blond teenager.

The teenager said, "So are you going to go in it or what?" Tom stared at the boy and wondered if the teenager was a wizard.

Tom said, "Yes, I am. How do you actually go inside it." The teenager stared at Tom and said, "You just run straight to it."

Tom never thought of the idea of running through a wall but he turned his back on the teenager and ran with full might to the wall. It was suddenly black and when he opened his eyes again, he was on the other side. The Hogwarts Express gleamed in the sunlight. Tom never had a like to trains. But something about this one was special. Tom went to the door of the train and a person lifted his luggage in the train and smiled warmly at the strange boy. Tom got in to the train and gasped. Left and right were kids wandering around talking to each other about the summer, making new friends, trading these cards around. Tom lowered his head and walked into an empty compartment. He sat down glumly and waited for the train to start. He sat there for a few seconds until the door to his compartment opened, there were two kids standing there.

The tall one said, "Hello, we were wondering if we could share an apartment with you?"

Tom stared at the boy and thought what bad things he could do to them. He nodded and the two boys walked in.

The tall one said, "Well…my name is Lestrange and I am 11 years old. This is my first time going to Hogwarts. Are you a pure-blood?"

Tom said in a raspy voice, "My name is Tom Riddle and I don't know what you mean by pure-blood and I don't really want to know."

He stared at the other kid menacingly and the boy quickly said, "My name is Avery…" Tom stared at the boys and said nothing. He wasn't great at making friends since he had none back at the orphanage. Tom sat there for a while and asked if they have wizarding families and they both said yes. Tom stared at them and demanded them to tell him about all their customs and beliefs. They both said that their parents were from Slytherin, the best house out of the four. They told him all about Quidditch, Pumpkin Juice, Hogwarts, and a lot more. Tom grew more fascinated by the hour. He asked them a lot about Salazar Slytherin, the person who created the house Slytherin. While they were talking, Tom felt something deep down in his heart about Salazar Slytherin. He asked the two boys if Salazar Slytherin had any descendents. They said that the last one died a long time ago.

After a few hours of talking about Hogwarts and the wizarding world, they came upon the topic of the Chamber of Secrets. Tom interests in Salazar Slytherin grew tenfold when he heard that Salazar Slytherin made a secret chamber in the school. Tom vowed to himself that he would find this chamber and make it his own hiding place.

The three of them quickly became friends over the short period of time and later when the train stopped and they got out, they went into the same boat together to get to the Hogwarts Castle. When they got to the entrance of the school, they met a very fat teacher with a curious personality.

The fat man said, "Hello first year students, my name is Professor Slughorn and I am the head of the Slytherin house. Through this door we shall journey inside the school. Follow closely now…" Tom looked at the fat man named Professor Dumbledore and felt a small collection to him. He nodded to the professor and followed him inside the school. They walked a few steps inside the building, but Tom didn't even listen to the professor or saw his bearings, no, he was staring at Professor Slughorn like he was the answer to all his problems…