Chapter 2

The next day, the populace of wizarding Britain was thrown into a panic when their morning copies of the Daily Prophet arrived, for the front page headline was "YOU-KNOW-WHO ADDRESSES PUBLIC!" The article beneath it was brief but concise, saying that at midnight last night an owl arrived at the Prophet offices with two letters, one of which was to be printed on the next day's front page. The other outlined what would happen if the printing did not happen. Terrified, the Prophet agreed, and presented the letter from Voldemort.

Wizards and Witches of Britain,

By now you have no doubt heard of the latest deaths at my hand, those of the infants Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. However, though it may have been I that killed them, the blame lies ultimately at the feet of Albus Dumbledore. It is Dumbledore's poor judgment that ultimately caused the deaths of those boys.

The reason I killed them is that last year, a prophecy was made, by a genuine Seer. This prophecy said that the one who was to defeat the "Dark Lord" was soon to be born, at the end of July, to parents who had defied the "Dark Lord" three times. Assuming the Dark Lord in the prophecy is I, there were but two possibilities as to the identity of this prophesied saviour – Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.

Yet how did I learn of this prophecy? Surely something of such import should have been kept from me, yet this is where Dumbledore failed. The Seer gave the prophecy while being interviewed by Dumbledore for the post of Divination teacher at Hogwarts. The interview was not held in Dumbledore's office, but in a room at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade, where one of my Death Eaters was able to overhear the prophecy as it was given.

Do you see now? If Dumbledore had exercised caution when conducting the interview, doing so in his office, for instance, the prophecy would not have been overheard, I would not have learned it, and those boys would not have died.

So curse my name, and live in fear. But know this: it is Dumbledore's fault that you do so, and it is also his fault that I am who I am, and I shall explain this.

I never knew my parents. I was raised from infancy in a Muggle orphanage. There was no affection given to me, nor any other child. And then I discovered I could do magic, and I used it to do as I pleased, for there was no-one who could stop me. And then Dumbledore came, telling me I was a wizard, and there was a school, a whole society of people like me, who could do things like I could. But then came more news, which was unpleasant to my ears. Though Hogwarts would fund my supply costs, since I had no wizarding money, I could not stay there over the summers. I had to return to the orphanage.

Can you not see how this might drive one to "evil"? Thinking yourself the only person like you, discovering you are not, and then being told that you cannot live in this world of people like you permanently until you reach seventeen, that you must return to a place which you do not belong to, where you are called "freak", although never to your face?

And when you have questions about magic, such as "Can magic bring back the dead?", and be told there is no such spell, your efforts to find one, or a method of avoiding death entirely, result in being called "evil" and "Dark" BY THE SAME MAN WHO INTRODUCED YOU TO MAGIC AND TAUGHT YOU FOR SEVEN YEARS, can you not imagine, witches and wizards, what rage that kindles in a person?

Magic is a tool. It is neither good, nor evil. It simply is. It is the witch or wizard using it that labels it as such. The Imperius Curse makes its target a puppet of the caster, and it is called Unforgivable. But what if it is used to make someone who wishes to end their life to no longer do so? Has it not been used for good?

It is often speculated as to what my goals are. Do I seek to rule? No. Do I seek to destroy the Muggles? No, for though even the most imbecilic wizard is superior to the greatest intellect of the Muggles, for his possession of magic alone, I recognise that the Muggles are necessary for our survival. They are breeding stock, no more.

So what do I seek? The same thing I have sought since I discovered magic. Knowledge, and the time to use it, to experiment with it, unburdened by mortality. Consider Nicholas Flamel. Alchemist, creator of the Philosopher's Stone, more than six centuries of life – and what great thing has he done since creating the Stone, which he and his wife keep to themselves? Nothing. And he was in Ravenclaw, the House of learning.

It is also speculated as to why my ancestor Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts. Anyone who has read Hogwarts: A History knows that it was the result of a feud with Gryffindor, but not what it was about. Did Slytherin wish to deny Muggleborns a magical education, or take them from their families as soon as they showed magic? Given the time, I believe the latter, for if some witch or wizard had taken me from the orphanage and raised me,, I would most likely not be who I am now, and the hands of Albus Dumbledore would not be stained with blood.

The Dark Lord.