!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*



"Don't make a noise... If you do, then I'll not tell you the important news which I came here to dispose."

I swallowed hard and vaguely nodded. Somehow horror and surprises never seemed to cease in my life.

"It's good that we understand each other..." finished the deep male voice.

The hands let go of me and a tall figure walked in front, within my sight.

A dark magenta cloak embellished his body with a hood... His face couldn't be sighted because he had a black mask covering it and even his hands were adorned with black satin gloves. He definitely was totally inexplicable.

I pulled up my sheets higher till it reached my chest, but my hands were quivering uncontrollably.

Softly the intruder sat on the edge of my bed.

"I'm not here to harm you... I 'll never be your foe..." he began. "In reality, I have come to inform you about your bequest and your lineage.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked, penetrating deeply into that shrouded face to find at least some sort of a conviction.

"You are the heir of Salazar Slytherin...But for now, you're Tom Slytherin; Vesta Slytherin's son and Marvolo Slytherin's great grandson."

"Did you know my mother?" I questioned, my eyes blurring at the threat of another cascade of tears.

"Very well; quite well in fact..." Suddenly his voice broke. "I warned her not to marry your father, but she never listened! That man ruined her!"

Unfathomable emotion vibrated in his voice as he spoke and I saw his hands clutch the bed tightly as if he was trying his best to keep control of his feelings.

"Here, you deserve to keep this more than me..." he said and reached inside his cloak to pull out a silver chain of some sort.

"Open your hand..." he whispered, and in my palm he placed a delicate silver necklace with a silver locket attached to it.

I looked up at him and raised my eyebrows in question even though I doubted that he could see me.

"Unbolt the locket..." he said, as if he knew about my hesitation.

My fingertips traced the outline of its smooth surface... In the green light, the locket was illuminated in a strange shine.

I undid the clasp and my breathing stopped momentarily.

A miniature portrait of a lovely young woman stared at me and smiled... Her green eyes were twinkling with amusement and her dark curly hair tumbled down around her shoulders in waves...

"You look a lot like her...isn't it?"

"I wish... " I murmured unable to control the warm torrent of tears, sliding down my face...

"You do... Sadness, exhaustion and loneliness can rob a person so much of his youth... No one understands that better than me."

"Who are you?" I inquired, holding the locket close to my heart.

"You can call me Seth. Someday I'll tell you who I was and who I am now. But at the moment, consider me as a well-wisher and a friend, who'll be with you always"

"You were talking about my father... Who was he?"

"He was a filthy muggle! He only married Vesta for her beauty!"

"Is he dead?" I asked rather naïvely.

"DEAD? Of course not! That rat is still living! He deserted your Mother, when he learned that she was a witch! Never considered it an honor to have a wife who was from the Magical world! He actually abandoned her when she was pregnant with you!"

I was astonished, and a part of me died away at that realization...

"Study well Tom! Do your best to become the greatest wizard ever to be born! Do it for your mother!" cried Seth shaking me by the shoulders.

"I will..." I replied through gritted teeth. All of a sudden this world held nothing but mournful devastation for me. A sense of revenge and pure hatred arose and I found my grasp tighten on the locket.

"One more thing, child... You have a gift... A rare special gift of speaking with reptiles... It's called Parseltongue. Use it well and soon you'd be able to unlock the Chamber of Secrets. Work on it from now onwards..."

A noise interrupted our conversation... It was the steps of some people coming up the stairs. (I was thankful for the stone floors.)

"I must go... Don't try to follow me... I'll give the directions later! Good bye Tom!" exclaimed Seth and I watched him turn a knob on the wall behind my bed.

My mouth dropped open as I saw the stone tile of the floor sliding open to reveal stone steps disappearing into the darkness...

"This is a secret passage...Don't tell anyone about it. Now I must go!" added my secret visitor and descended down.

As soon as he went; the stone block began to slide back until it was completely restored to look like a floor again.

"TOM!" yelled Zarken and fell on my bed and nearly made me jump out my skin!

"We were so worried about you... Listen I'm sorry," he started but stopped when he saw my blank expression.

"Tom, are you alright?"

"Yeah... Haven't been better!" I retorted smiling and jumped out of the bed.

"Are you coming for dinner?"

"Definitely..." I answered slipping the necklace over my head.

"Will you forgive me?" asked Zarken looking nervous and embarrassed.

"I never forgive..." I said and then laughed out loud to give the supposition that I was joking but Zarken smiled and failed to note that even though my teeth sparkled; my eyes remained cold.

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*



"Tom I suppose?" asked the blue eyed, blond teacher beaming.

"Yes..." I responded, really liking our Defense against Dark Arts teacher.

"That was a fantastic defense block when the Gredroids attacked! How did you learn to fight so bravely?" asked Professor Kaiser.

"Never did it before..."

"I can't believe it! No one accomplished the task while you fought them single handedly!" complimented Professor Kaiser acknowledging the screams of some tied ghoul like creatures who had deadly horns.

"Maybe fear drove the others backward while my fear drove me forward," I said solemnly.

"Well said, Tom! Well said! Though perhaps you'd like me to heal your nose- bleed and your scratches," he replied empathizing on the wounds I received. (My victory definitely had a painful price.)

"Healinacos!"

"Thanks Professor..."

"No problem."

The bell rang and everyone began to collect their quills and parchments.

"I say, Tom... You had a very daring expression when you fought the Gredroids," remarked Jack coming up from behind.

"I believe that fear is shameful... Besides I have nothing to lose and nothing to gain."

"You speak like a warrior," mused Jack as we walked out of the castle.

"I feel like one," I added.

The sun was warm so I closed my eyes and breathed in the fresh air.

"Have you flown before?"

"Flown?"

"Yeah... We're heading to learn flying! Master Igor is supposed to teach us how to maneuver the broomstick, so that we could play Quidditch next year.

"Why should we fly on a broomstick? And what's Quidditch?"

"ALL WIZARDS AND WITCHES FLY ON BROOMSTICKS! IT'S A MEAN OF TRANSPORT!" bellowed Jack in ecstasy and I gave him a puzzled look.

"What's Quidditch?"

"You don't know Quidditch?" gasped Jack like I was the world's biggest idiot.

"Jack! For heaven sake, I come from a Muggle world! I don't exactly know every single word or whatever in the Wizarding world!" I concluded feeling exasperated.

"You ought to check the Wizard Dictionary sometime," grumbled Jack and I smirked.

"Quidditch is a game played on brooms...The best game in the world ever!" announced my friend and dragged me towards a line of brooms.

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*



"All embark the broomstick when I blow the whistle," advised Master Igor after he taught us the basics of handling a broom.

My broom was an annoying thing and always tried to pull away from my grasp.

"Concentrate harder on it..." commented Master Igor when he saw me struggling to keep the shifting broom in control.

"Alright everyone... Step closer to your brooms, but remember not to fly! Just sit tight!"

The shrill sound was perceived and I jumped on my room rapidly! But to my surprise the broom rose higher before I could stop it!

"Get down this moment, Mr. Riddle!" proclaimed Master. Igor but tried as I could, the broom didn't pay any attention to my maneuverings.

Soon I was rising higher and higher until everyone was specks on the ground below. Sweat began to form droplets on my forehead and out of the blue the broom gave a jerk and began to dive down below like a falling rocket!

"I will not die on a stupid broom!" I screamed, concentrating extremely hard.

I tightened my hold and hunched my back. The ground was coming to meet me quicker... Will a roar, I cut short at the very last second and pulled off the dive and spiraled off.

I knew now that I had to make the broom the slave and banish away the uncertainty in me.

Bravely I climbed on the broom and clutched its sides with my ankles. I wanted to feel the power of dominance in me. Below, I heard people cheering and screaming in excitement.

I felt weightless on the broom and the air refreshed me... It was like being in a brand new world...

Energized, I flipped my broomstick in a series of cartwheels and used it as a skateboard to zig zag through the air. (In the orphanage one of my greatest talents had been acrobatics and ballet, so my balancing was perfect.)

"I OWN THIS WORLD!" I bellowed as I sped past the clouds, all the while I forgot the woes and the joys of the earth below me. Everything ceased to exist in those few moments.

Finally after a grand tour of the sky, I landed stylishly on the floor as the others approached towards me.

"AWESOME FLYTING!!!!" screamed Zarken embracing me in his excitement.

"Young man, you're going to get deten—"began Master Igor but was interrupted by a Fifth year boy.

"HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU DO THE WRONSKI FEINT? THAT WAS OUTRAGEOUS!"

"By the way, did I say that you are a terrific flyer?" asked another senior boy putting his arm around me. "We must speak to Professor Kaiser about your marvelous performance!"

"No need! No need! I saw the boy myself when I was watching out of the Headmaster's office! He climbed approximately ninety eight feet while balancing the broomstick, standing!" exclaimed Professor Kaiser holding something like a stop watch in his hand.

"With him on the team, we're a sure thing to beat the Gryffindors after thirty four years!" cried a boy who looked like he was going to cry in happiness or something.

"Look, I don't know a single thing about Quid—"

"We'll teach you! But wow! With reflexes like those, the Quidditch cup would be ours for the taking!"

"LOOK I DON'T WANT TO PLAY QUIDDITCH!" I yelled, pushing away the people from me. My mind told me that I had better things to do than play Quidditch.

"It's for your house!"

But I didn't pay heed to all the calls behind me. I was determined not to waste any time.

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*



Suddenly that evening at the Great Hall, everyone seemed to be friendly with me... And many were persuading me to play Quidditch.

"NO!" I exclaimed for what seemed like the millionth time.

I found this sudden change quite amusing but undeniably sardonic.

"Quidditch doesn't matter to me... I want only POWER, through BRAINS," I whispered to Zarken when he refused to talk to me." Fame's just for idiots!"

The enchanted ceiling depicted a bright star amongst thousands of other pale tiny stars... Somehow I knew that I could mould my own destiny and steal it out of the hands of fate; just like I did when I was on the broom.

It was then that, I realized how powerful one can be as an individual...

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*



A/N: Glad you like it! Will continue as soon as possible.