Tom was growing more and more irritated and restless with each passing moment. Never in his life had he seen the sorting to begin so late in the past. This future version of the Sorting was beginning to bore the shit out of him.
And those pesky, little first years, who were chattering nervously and loudly among themselves and were throwing curious glances at him from time to time, were beginning to grate on his nerves.
He could tell that a lot of them wanted to talk to him but the furious glare he shot at them was keeping them within their limits. Tom was sure that if anyone had dared to talk to him at that moment, then he would have surely cast the killing curse at every single one of them.
Every.Single.One.
And finally when the Sorting began, Tom found himself paying so much attention to it that he wondered how much bored he must have been to find such a simple and mundane thing as the Sorting as so very interesting.
However, a small part of him was relieved to find that neither the Opening Feast nor the Sorting had changed even a little bit in the future, even in the presence of a dangerous Dark Lord lurking outside.
And Tom knew that the only place that would accept him with welcoming arms without any kind of judgement was Hogwarts.
Because Hogwarts was his home.
Because Hogwarts was where he truly belonged.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
After the Sorting was over, Dumbledore delivered the dake speech about Tom that he had told Tom beforehand that he would be giving and in the meantime, Tom's heart began thundering in his chest. His palms became sweaty and a gnawing feeling began eating the insides of his stomach.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
By the time Tom was invited to enter the Great Hall, he could feel himself shaking and his legs felt like jelly. He had to fight very hard with himself to calm himself down and not to show any kind of emotion on his face.
And probably for the first time in his life, he desperately wanted not to draw any kind of attention towards him. He wanted his (re)Sorting to be done and be over with as quietly and quickly as was possible.
And the first thing that happened when he entered the Great Hall, was that a hush of silence spreading over the entire length of it. And to Tom's horror, he felt hundreds of pairs of eyes gaping at him like a dead fish.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tom became too nervous because of the unfaltering attention of hundreds of students that he was getting and he tried his mind to go as blank as was possible.
Occlumency often helped in these kind of situations.
So he almost mechanically sat on the stool, looking straight ahead and refusing to meet anyone's eyes, with his back painfully straight and put on the Sorting Hat over his head for the second time in his life.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"You have sorted me earlier within seconds after touching my head. You know that I am the Heir of Slytherin. So what's taking you so long this time?", Tom asked after what seemed like hours to him.
"Godric and Salazar did favour the similar kinds of qualities in a human being, Tom".
"Meaning?"
"You cannot dream to achieve your ambitions without being brave enough to leap for it.
And you must realize that cunningness and determination often go hand in hand in the real world, Tom."
"But why does it matter to you? I literally have Slytherin's blood flowing through my veins, and you know it very well. I have the purest blood of all in my veins here and so I deserve only the noblest house of them all"
"We all bleed the same colour Tom."
A wave of realization and dread slowly started washing over his entire body and Tom could barely register when the Hat bellowed "Gryffindor" from above his head.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
His legs had completely given out him when he dragged himself over to the Table of the Lions, and Tom was a little bit surprised to see the genuinely happy faces smiling and clapping and welcoming him to sit amongst them.
It was the exact opposite of what happened with him when a mudblood with the surname 'Riddle' had been sorted into the noble house of Slytherin, where every rich brat who reeked of money had crunched up their noses in disgust to have a mudblood dining with them.
On the other hand, the kind of reception that he received in Gryffindor almost felt warm in his chest. But Tom was sure that once they knew that he could speak to snakes, they would distance themselves from him thinking him to be positively evil.
And then he would have nowhere left to go.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The boy beside whom Tom had decided to seat himself was blushing so profusely that Tom barely managed to keep himself from practising Legilimency on him so that he could know the reason why the innocent crature had all his blood colouring his cheeks in such such a lovely shade of pink.
But then Tom noticed how the boy had kept both his hands perfectly still above his crotch in such an awkward manner that Tom had no problems to understand what was the boy trying to hide and why was he blushing so much.
Tom wondered what must have happened to him to have a boner in a room filled with noisy children and old teachers with a platter of delicious food in front of him to keep him distracted.
To his opposite, sat a bushy haired, mousy looking girl who was deperately trying to concentrate on eating and reading the book that lay sprawled across her lap instead of staring at Tom's face.
This girl looked embarrassed and shy but she had an unmistakably intelligent glint in her eyes which indicated the presence of a sharp and witty mind.
Tom would have loved to read her mind but the girl never held his gaze for more than a second before turning her head to look away and blushing.
But Tom was used to this. He knew what kind of effect he had on witches.
And the boy beside her, who was (over)stuffing his mouth hastily and and a bit angrily, caught Tom's attention only because Tom had a very good idea of who he could be. That irritatingly ginger hair and those even more irritating frecles were unmistakable.
He was a Weasley.
And one Weasley meant that there were several more Weasleys around. And they were all Gryffindors. So he looked around the table and his eyes fell upon a ginger witch with freckled face who would have looked beautiful if not for the pallor and sweat on her face.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After about seemed like about ten minutes of plotting how to make connections with any of the Malfoys or Blacks or Lestranges and picking at the food on Tom's part, he sensed someone's presence behind his back.
He turned his head to see that a very blonde and obnoxiously cheerful Ravenclaw girl with dreamy, glazed eyes staring at him, with a sweet and serene smile gracing her lips.
But before Tom could open his mouth to say something to the girl, the girl simply said, "Your eyes gleam red", in a sweet, sing-song voice and smiled before walking away towards the Ravenclaw table without even waiting for a reply.