House: Slytherin

Category: Drabble

Prompt: [First Line] I didn't have the full story when I made this choice

Year: Head Girl

Word Count: 378

A/N: This is an experiment with a different mode of writing - I wanted to play around with the 'history book' feel, so please don't judge too quickly :)

I didn't have the full story when I made this choice. I suppose there's a lesson to be learned here, but if there is one, I'm not sure what it is. All I've learned from my past eleven years spent as a disembodied spirit is that possessing any animal, even snakes, is a terrible idea. Thinking of vultures still reminds me of that one decomposing deer carcass I once scarfed down before I realized that it wasn't my hunger, but the animal's, and I've been trying to forget that memory. It's scary to learn you don't have as much control over yourself as you thought you did.

Anyway, I haven't explained why I was a disembodied spirit for eleven years. Regardless of what you might think, that is not something that typically happens in the Wizarding World. (And if you do think that happens a lot, go walk in the way of a Death Eater, you ignorant muggle). One can do a lot of things with magic, but generally, most sane wizard and witches tend to avoid being more pathetic than even the weakest ghost. So you see, my predicament was completely unintentional. Like I said, I didn't have the entire story - all I knew was that I didn't want to die, I had found a page in the Restricted Section which dealt with the theory and implementation of horcrux creation (and not the effects), and there were some people in the world who I wouldn't mind killing.

Looking back, I really ought to have gotten the full story before going out and making my horcruxes. I was an enthusiastic young man, but really, that's no excuse. Only an insane man would continue making horcruxes, especially when on is all you really need to achieve immortality… but I think because I didn't know the full story, I ended up playing Exploding Snap without a full deck. I could have been so much more, but I ended up only a pale, distorted shadow of myself.

I really ought to have gotten the full story before choosing to make my horcruxes.

- An excerpt of The Life of Tom Riddle, as remembered by Abraxas Malfoy, in one of the rare moments when the Dark Lord wished to speak of his past.