*'I trust that you also noticed that Tom Riddle was already highly self-sufficient, secretive and, apparently, friendless?'*
Chapter: 3
Tom Riddle woke up to find himself behind bars.
His first thought was, 'what the-'
His first word was, "bibi-mon"
And his first reaction was to faint. (Not that he would admit doing so, even under Veritaserum. Dark Lords to-be simply do not faint: they assess their current predicament and then conclude that everything will make much more sense after a short nap.)
For a second time that day, Tom Riddle woke up to less than normal circumstances. This time it was to a puke inducing stench. He was still behind bars, which on closer inspection turned out to be a crib. And the stench was coming from his diaper.
Lord Voldemort was wearing a diaper and it was soiled. Unable to make head or tail of the situation, baby Tom began to cry.
"Aww, look who is awake…Tommy-kins, did you dirty your nappy-wappy?"
Tom Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, decided then and there that he would forgo with destroying the Muggle populace and make eradicating demons his first priority. No one, absolutely no one, cooed at him.
"Waha ibbiz no?"
"Not now. Let's get you cleaned up first. And then we'll satisfy your ever curious mind."
And to Tom's horror, Demon-boy changed him, Muggle style. His rage at being turned into a baby was eclipsed by embarrassment at being changed by a two year old. A dull flush colored his normally pallid cheeks and he looked away from Demon-boy who was currently rubbing talcum powder on his bum. Maybe Magic wanted him to die of sheer humiliation.
"There, all cleaned up…" Demon-boy actually smiled at him. "Now to answer your questions: yes, you are a healthy fifteen month old baby with the mind of a nineteen year old. No, I didn't do this; we landed in the Fountain of Youth. The Monks didn't tell me they were landscape designing-for the hundredth time this century, might I add-or I would have brought you from the other entrance…Okay, no need to glare, maybe it is my fault."
As he paused, Tom's stomach gave a loud growl. Demon-boy smirked as he conjured up a bottle filled with milk and handed it to Tom. Tom gave him a 'there's no way in hell I'm drinking from a bottle' look. Demon-boy sighed and banished the bottle. He didn't miss the look of pained misery that flashed across Tom's face for a second before it was replaced with one of indifference. Tom controlled his hunger and not the other way around.
"Well I'm not affected because of the obvious and neither is the yak, which is very curious…You can communicate through Legilimency and I don't know how or when you'll change back. The Monks weren't very specific about the anti-dote. As it is, they are honoring your visit in the most peculiar way. Let's go meet them."
Tom was a bit startled by the abrupt change in conversation and continued to stare. But when Demon-boy showed every inclination to carry him to the Monks, Tom made a quick mental shout-out, 'I can walk.'
Tom got no answer but a faintly amused feeling from Demon-boy who lowered him to the floor. He was a little wobbly on his feet but was completely confident that he could manage the journey. No sooner had he taken four steps that he promptly fell on his bum. And his legs didn't seem willing to try that again. As Demon-boy made an exasperated motion towards him, Tom started crawling to the door.
'How do you walk so well?'
'My appearance is only an illusion. I'm a full-grown demon: I can carry you just fine without magic.'
'Why didn't you change me with magic?'
'Magic-especially a demon's-is never used on infants. It can have disastrous consequences as a wizard's innate magic is very sensitive for the first two years of his life. And it can also interfere with their proper magical core development.'
They were staying at what appeared to be a dorm room in a monastery. The room led into a hallway which had beautiful thangka pictures, depicting various Buddhist deities, on either side of them. It opened up into a huge hall, roughly the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. There was a soft golden light illuminating the entire room.
The room was done mostly in the shades of maroon and red. On one end was a shrine with three huge, golden sculptures of Lord Buddha in the lotus position. The rest of the hall was a sitting space with cushions and low desks and a clear pathway leading from the statues to the door. Scrolls, decorated with writings in maroon and gold cloths, hung from the ceilings. The walls were decorated with delicate thangkas, a single one covering a whole side. The door was artfully engraved and painted with deities and demons. All in all, it was the heart of the monastery: the very best the Monks of Shangri-La had to offer, culture-wise.
Out on the courtyard, Tom came face to face with the most peculiar sight of that day. A couple of monks were meditating, balancing themselves one-legged on a bamboo pole. While that in itself was not particularly strange, the fact that both of them appeared no older than two year old was.
'Explain.'
'They are honoring your visit Tom.'
'…By changing themselves into infants?'
'They were bored. They are immortal, rarely anything of interest happens when you live forever in one of the most secluded places on the planet. Your misfortune was a wonderful opportunity for them to let their hair down-not that they have any-and have some fun.'
Suddenly, Tom had a feeling that he would have landed in that Fountain even if he had burrowed to Shangri-La. This visit was probably just a big set-up so that a bunch of immortal old men and a demon could have their fun. Fuming at the injustice of when the Universe-or rather specifically Magic-was really out to get you, Tom crawled into the courtyard. A little further along he heard the one thing he hoped never to hear again: a loud and soon-to-be-wet 'YAHHHH'. So the yak was still here.
'Yes and she seems to found a friend.'
Beside the yak was another yak: a gigantic, bulky, black male yak with a pair of enormous horns. As she continued to lick everywhere from Tom's hair to all the way to his backside and gave him continuous 'YAHHHH(s)', the male looked ready to impale him upon his horns. It seems the male yak had marked Tom as a threat and was silently relaying that challenge through a very evil stink-eye. Tom quickly crawled off.
The Monks on the bamboo pole gave them a short bow as they passed and returned to their previous stances. That brought up another question.
'How is it that they can do yoga and I can't even walk?'
Before Demon-boy could answer him, a deep, unified voice resonated within Tom's mind as the two Monks on poles gave him identical smirks, 'We have ways.'
After that ominous and slightly creepy pronouncement, Tom and Demon-boy reached the end of the courtyard and looked outside the main gate. And Tom felt his jaw drop.
Outside the door was Shangri-La, an island, the Heaven on Earth.
The monastery they were at was located on the mountain that dominated the island and was just high enough to give them a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Shangri-La was surrounded on all four sides by immense, white Himalayas with an ever present fog. The deep blue sky dotted with white, fluffy clouds was reflected in the clear, green waters of the lake on which stood the island of Shangri-La. Four waterfalls, from the four directions, originating from the Himalayas fed icy water to the lake: the Fountain(s) of Youth. The white, sandy beach was littered with Monks and animals alike enjoying a fine day under the sun. The air was clean, the temperature was just right, a cool breeze was blowing ever so lazily and Shangri-La was just so-
"Beautiful, isn't she?"
Tom could do nothing but nod as he stood savoring the sight before him. Nothing in the world could ever compare to this. It was perfect, absolutely perfect!
"Well the Monks are waiting for us at the beach. Let's go then."
The journey from the monastery to the beach was exactly a thousand steps long. Tom was of course carried by Demon-boy (Tom wasted fifteen minutes arguing in favor of alternatives). He also finally succumbed to his hunger and requested, politely this time, for the bottle. As they reached the bottom, the bottle was empty and Tom was fast asleep in Demon-boy's arms. The Monks could wait until after the nap.
