a/n: season eight!

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chaser 2, qlfc forum, puddlemere united

season eight, round one

main prompt:
The Sage- Goal: knowledge

optional prompts:
1. (quote) "The excitement of dreams coming true is beyond the description of words."- Lailah Gifty Akita

9. (dialogue) "Go to sleep."

12. (word) blaze

word count: 2306

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1944

Late at night in the orphanage, a boy is writing in a large, leather tome. The golden light of the candle next to him gives him a dark, eerie look; his dark eyes seem even more sinister than normal.

After a few minutes, he looks up from his writings, closes his eyes, and takes a deep, steadying breath.

"Go to sleep." A girl enters the room, closing the door behind her and going to the boy's side.

"Persephone." He opens his eyes, not a bit surprised. "Nice to see you tonight."

"You see me every night, you arse." Persephone sits down beside him.

"Yeah, well, can't sleep tonight. I'm close to figuring something out."

"Yeah, well, sleep is more important than whatever the bloody hell you're doing now." She glances at the page and wrinkles her nose. "This isn't everything, Tom."

"It might as well be," Tom sighs, staring blankly at his unorganized writings.

"Yes, well, there's also me," Persephone says after a long moment, forcing Tom to look her in the eye. "And you. And your health. And your health includes sleeping."

"I'll just drink an Energy Potion," Tom insists.

"You forget…"

Tom blinks, confused, and then realizes: "Oh, yeah. Not at Hogwarts. Bugger."

"See? You're so tired you forgot you can't do magic…"

Tom sighs. "I know, I just… I'm so excited. I've almost done it, I've almost got it figured out…"

"I know," Persephone replies. "I know how much you want to finish this. I know this is your dream. Or, well, part of it, anyway."

"I'm just stuck on one little thing… it's so bloody annoying."

"Well, why don't you sleep so you can think a little clearer in the nice, bright morning?"

"Hmmm."

Persephone laughs. "Just go to sleep, alright? Listen to me for once in your life. It'll do that head of yours some good."

Tom snorts as way of reply.

"Don't deny it: I am the one with all the common sense here."

After a long moment, Tom breaks the silence. "Goodnight, Persephone."

"Goodnight, Tom." She reaches and closes the book, takes it from him, and sets it gently down on the single wooden chair in the room.

Tom looks at her and smiles slightly. "Thanks."

Persephone smiles back at him. She hesitates for a moment, and then leans to kiss him on the cheek. "I'll see you in the morning."

And with that, she leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

Tom stares after her, his hand unconsciously reaching up to caress his own cheek.

Four years earlier, 1940

Tom was sitting alone in his room at the orphanage, scribbling in the margins of one of his textbooks. He nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise when the door opened to reveal Mrs. Cole.

Tom sighed. What was it now? he wondered, closing his textbook and setting it to one side.

Unlike most other times, it wasn't the overseer of the orphanage coming to scold him for doing something odd to one of the other children. (Said scolding did happen less now; however, this was because, after two years at Hogwarts, Tom had learned not to act too suspicious lest Dumbledore become even more suspicious of him.) Instead, she led in a bright-eyed girl who smiled slightly at Tom.

Tom blinked. "Hello."

Mrs. Cole nodded at him, seemingly nervous as she distractedly picked at her fingernails. "Yes, er, hello, Tom. This is Persephone Selwyn. She'll be staying with us at the orphanage from now on. Why don't you come and show her around?"

Selwyn? That was a pureblood family name. One of the Sacred Twenty-Eight… what was someone like her doing here? And if she was magical, why hadn't he seen her at Hogwarts before?

Mrs. Cole nodded decisively. "Well, I'll leave you two to it. No funny business, alright?"

And with that, she left the room.

"Do you know?" were Tom's first words after he was sure Mrs. Cole was no longer in earshot.

Persephone blinked, confused. "Know… what?"

Tom sighed. "Oh, well, I suppose not then. Your last name is Selwyn, yes?"

Persephone nodded. "My mom wanted me to have her surname. I'm… I don't really know why." She blushed. "Um, why do you ask?"

"Do you know anything about your mom's side of the family?" Tom asked, ignoring her question.

"Oh, well, I ended up here because we're not really in touch with them. I think. At least that's what they told me. And my dad's side, they're all… gone."

Interesting.

Tom decided that was enough questioning for now. He stood from the bed and forced a smile. "Well, I'm Tom. Tom Riddle. It's nice to meet you."

Persephone smiled back at him. "Nice to meet you too."

"How old are you?" Tom asked as they left the room.

"I turn eleven in a few weeks."

Oh. So she wasn't of Hogwarts age yet. Explains why he hadn't seen her before… she'd get her letter soon, at any rate.

"So, how is school around here?" Persephone asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Oh, I actually go to a private school."

"Do all the children here go to a private school?"

"No. It's just me. My family… my family has all gone there, I think. At least that's what they told me."

"Who?"

"You ask a lot of questions," Tom replied, shooting her a dark look.

"So do you," Persephone fired back.

Normally that look would've been enough to shut any Muggle up, but Persephone Selwyn obviously wasn't a Muggle. And she didn't know him well enough to know what he could do… or what he would've done, if Dumbledore hadn't been keeping such a close eye on him lately.

"You'll see," was all Tom deigned to say.

Persephone scoffed, following him into the dining room. "So high and mighty, aren't you?"

Tom didn't reply.

Near the end of the summer, Tom and Persephone got their letters. Not together, of course — Tom had been treating her just as he did all the other students. Ignoring her, that is. It wasn't too hard. Tom holed up in his room most days anyway, and after thirteen years, Mrs. Cole just didn't question it. Besides, Dumbledore had come again to give Persephone her letter and explain things. He came by Tom's room to check in with him, of course. The idiot never knew when to leave well enough alone, Tom thought.

After Dumbledore had left, Tom quickly got up and hurried to Persephone's room. He knocked.

"Come in." She was sitting on the bed, looking shaken.

"Hello," Tom said.

Persephone looked up for a moment. "Oh. Um, hi."

"So… he told you you're going to… the private school I told you about, hm?"

Persephone's head shot up. "Wait, what?"

"You're magic too, aren't you?"

1943

Persephone hurries up the stairs of the manor. She'd followed Tom when he left the orphanage earlier, wanting to know what he was up to. Over the past few years, the two hadn't talked much. Persephone had been sorted into Hufflepuff, and seeing as they were in different houses and different years, the two didn't cross paths often.

Persephone reaches the landing. She hears voices from down the hall, and hurries. She knows Tom was always up to some shady things while at school, along with all those Slytherin thugs. They are up to no good… he is up to no good.

Persephone peeks around the corner; she gasps in horror. Tom is standing above a shuddering young man. A man that looks like… Tom.

An older man and woman are bound and Stunned, tossed carelessly to the side.

"Did you think that you would get away with it, you filthy Muggle?" Tom seethes.

"I don't understand," the man says, shaking his head frantically. "Please, I don't know—"

"Shut up," Tom snarls. "You know what? I'm shutting you up for good. Say bye-bye, you worthless man of a father. Avada—"

Persephone stumbles and nearly falls into the room. "Tom!"

Tom catches sight of her; he loses focus for a second as the blazing determination in his eyes fractures. The man sees this as a chance and tries to get away, but Tom is quicker than that. With a quick wave of the wand in his hand, the man collapses, Stunned.

"I'm different from them," Tom says, his voice shaking. "I'm going to change the bloody world, Selwyn. And you can't. Can't stop me."

"Not like this," Persephone whispers. "Please, Tom. Not like this. Please don't do this."

"Why not? What have they ever done for me? These idiotic Muggles… they're filthy. Worthless. They're nothing compared to us." His eyes glint in the firelight. "I'm going to rid the world of them, Selwyn. I'm going to light this world on fire. It's all going to burn down; it's all going to ashes. And then I'll be free, free to do as I please, and I'm going to find it all out. I'm going to know everything there is to know. And what's to stop me? Not as if you can. I'll Obliviate you."

"Why don't you just Obliviate them and let's go back to the orphanage," Persephone begs. "Please, Tom. Don't do this to yourself. You're better than this."

"I'm better than them," Tom says. "Every Muggle in this world has been cruel to me. They don't know. They don't know exactly what they're dealing with, exactly what I could do to them. They should know. They should be scared."

"Oh, Tom," Persephone whispers.

"Don't pity me," Tom snaps. "I don't need your pity. Are you just going to be like that? A filthy blood-traitor? Then fine. I guess that's what should happen here, hm?"

"Tom, no—"

"Obliviate."

It is almost a year later that Myrtle Warren is murdered. Hogwarts is about to close, and then suddenly it isn't.

When they're back at the orphanage, Persephone storms into Tom's room. "I know it was you," she says furiously. "You filthy, lying, idiotic murderer. I can't bloody believe you."

Tom almost forgets that he Obliviated her that night; he's scared for a moment before he remembers. "Hm. Really. What makes you think so?"

"I saw you. And don't think that you can just Obliviate me. We're not at Hogwarts. They'll know."

"Oh, you thought this one out, didn't you?" Tom drawls.

"With my life on the line? Of course."

"You think that little of me?" Tom shakes his head, laughing. "I would never spill blood like yours."

"I'm a half-blood."

"And your mother came from the Sacred Twenty-Eight," Tom replies.

"And that doesn't make me any better than a Muggle-born witch."

Tom scoffs.

"No, seriously," Persephone presses. "The best student in my year, the most talented, she's Muggle-born. I know the Muggles here are cruel, petty, horrid, so on… but they're not the only Muggles to exist, alright?"

"I've already had this conversation with you before," Tom mutters.

"I bet you Obliviated me, didn't you?" Persephone says after a brief silence.

"Aren't you a bright one."

"Look, Tom—"

"Don't call me that."

"Fine. Just, don't throw your life away to the Dark Arts. I know you want to change the world. I know how much your eyes light up at school when you talk about it, your dreams, your hopes, your future. How you'll learn what no one's ever learned before. But the Dark Arts aren't the only thing that can give you a… world-changing future."

"Then what?" Tom bit out. "The Dark Arts aren't even that… dark."

Persephone snorts. "Bringing corpses to life isn't dark? Murder isn't dark? Sure. Whatever." She turns to leave.

"Then I suppose I'm already on the path there, aren't I?"

Persephone stops in her tracks. "You killed someone?"

"No, I've been bringing a corpse army to life, all right under Dumbledore's nose," Tom deadpans. "Besides, wasn't that what you were just accusing me of? Murder?"

"Yes, but you didn't kill Warren," Persephone says with a sigh, turning back around. "The Basilisk did. Who did you actually kill?"

Tom is quiet. "I'd rather you not know that."

"Well, then, why don't you just not kill anyone else? Okay?" Persephone is quiet for a moment as well. In fact, the room is, as a whole, deathly quiet. "My parents were murdered. And, well, it's the worst thing that's ever happened to me. So just stop hurting people. They don't deserve it. Not every Muggle is horrid. Why don't you change the world by making people happier… without hurting anyone at all?"

Over the course of that summer, the summer before Tom's seventh year, the two become much closer. Tom confides in Persephone; when she doesn't turn him in, doesn't hate him, he ends up trusting her even more.

And he listens to Persephone. He stops delving so deeply into the Dark Arts. Instead, he decides to engineer magic. Always holed up in his room, just as before, he is working on new spells, more powerful than ever before. And not simply spells for harm, either. Healing spells, potions he plans to test when he gets back to Hogwarts.

Back at Hogwarts, Persephone and Tom get closer and closer. They share their first kiss on Christmas.

As Tom walks her back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, their laughter fills the hallway. When they get to the entrance, Tom gives her a goodbye kiss.

As he watches her go, he smiles wistfully. Instead of turning the world to ashes, he'll be the cause for a fiery blaze of knowledge. That's all he's ever wanted… it's a wonder the Hat didn't sort him into Ravenclaw. Before Persephone, he just never went about it in the right way.

What would I have ever been without you? he thinks.

And truly, he's glad that he'll never have to find out.