"I awoke earlier than you can imagine on that fateful day, if I slept at all. I left immediately and skidded through the dark London streets, following the route I knew so well, the route to King's Cross. I changed into my robes as soon as got there, not bothering to be inconspicuous.

"I picked an empty compartment, never feeling so alive as I felt then and there. It was a rebirth, an awaking, the first real highlight of my life. I needed no assistance, merely the knowledge to get me started. I needed no friends, only knowledge and power. Friends would bring me nothing but vulnerability, and that was anything but what I desired. I needed the solitude. Merope, your jaw is nearly touching the floor! What is wrong with you!"

She sighed, the alarm more apparent than ever in her lifeless eyes. "Forgive me, Tom, I just... I'm worried about you. You showed all the igns of being a serial killer, dear." The concern was still prominent. Why did she worry? T'was all over, nothing would change, so why did she care?

"Fascinating, Merope, dear," I mocked. "Shall I continue?"

"Oh yes! You must!"

"If you insist... I longed to be alone more than anythng else, but I got the opposite of that. Avery, Lestrange, Black and Greyback. They entered in unison. Lestrange was the first to speak.

"'Never seen you before,' he stated. 'What's your name?'

"'Tom Riddle.'

"'Your parentage?'

"I hesitated. 'Half-blood,' I finally declared. 'Is there a problem with that?'

"Greyback smiled. His glimmering teeth were larger than most people's, sharper, it seemed. 'You're cool with us, Tom, he said cooly, 'but we don't talk to Mudbloods.'

"'Nor do I. As if my lips would consort with such filth. Dumbledore said that we were equal when I saw him the second time, but... how could that be so?'"

"'It isn't, Tom, Dumbledore's a madman. Didn't your mum tell you that?'

"'No, but she couldn't, could she, being dead and everything...'" How calmly I spoke despite the anger that set me ablaze at the very mention of that terrible truth.

"'Oh... Sorry, mate. It's a shame, having so much pure blood wasted. Look at the Gaunt family. Old Marvolo fell apart when his daughter Merope eloped with that Mudblood...'

"I gasped aloud at the mention of the name. A pure man, a real wizard, a man who shared a name, yet I knew nothing of him. My mother had been a witch, but why had she chosen death over reality, over her son?

"'How pure was this Marvolo, exactly?'

"'Ha! He was a direct descendant of the great Slytherin himself!'

"My grandfather, an heir of a great man. How wonderful that was. That made my family great, made me great. But yet Riddle, the filthy vermin who had destroyed my mother's pure blood, her pure breath, he desired me not! Oh, how it provoked me, howw it set me ablaze! It kept me awake at night...

"We eventually arrived at Hogwarts. It was everything you would expect a castle to be and more. I felt nothing but excitement and longing, and soon enough we were marched into a hall full of robed students sitting at four tables, with on table for adults. There was a mangled hat at the front of the room, and that would determine the destiny of us all. How profound that was to me.

"I sat and waited, watching the line separate.

Avery, Cormac... Slytherin.

Black, Orion... Slytherin.

Bones, Jebadias... Hufflepuff.

Greyback, Fenrir... Slytherin.

The list went on and on.

Potter, Douglas... Gryffindor.

Prince, Eileen... Slytherin.

Riddle, Tom... Silence.

"I strolled up the row, trying not to act nearly as nervous as I was. Dumbledore's eyes were on me as if expecting an ultimatum, and everyone else seemed intrigued. The moment the hat brushed up against me, it bellowed the one word that would change my life forever, and would determine my death as well...

"'SLYTHERIN!!'

"Cheers erupted from one end of the room. My conpanians waved at me invitedly, and a walruslike man grinned at me... This was the one night that made all the difference, though it was one of the nights I least expected to make a difference. I was home, and for once, I belonged. That was enough to let me sleep soundly without the nighmares and visions of Tom Riddle and Merope Gaunt, my two creators and the people who had most destroyed me..."