The first of September found Tom Riddle hauling his trunk down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, brand new wand in the front pocket of his freshly-ironed shirt. He glanced into every compartment that he passed, trying to find one that was empty, or at least had students his own age. Near the very end of the train he finally found one with a solitary boy sitting inside, mulling over a magazine. Tom opened the door to the compartment and stepped inside.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked. "This is about the only non-crowded compartment."
The platinum-haired boy looked up from his reading material and sneered. "You're not a muggle born, are you?"
Just the way he said it made Tom cringe, and he quickly shook his head, not wanting to be kicked out of the compartment already.
"Of course not," he claimed.
"Good. I only speak with purebloods; it's like a law or something." The boy patted the seat beside him, and after Tom lifted his trunk onto the luggage rack, he took a seat. "I'm Vincent by the way. Vincent Malfoy. And you are?"
"Tom Riddle." He stuck out his hand, and the two shook. Malfoy quickly returned his icy hues to the magazine he was reading, leaving Tom up to his own devices.
His mind wandered back to Diagon Alley, remembering the joy he'd felt upon gazing down the alley for the first time…
Shops had been crowded on either side of the street, and what had seemed like hundreds of people were out shopping. The stores had all been packed, wizards and witches crowding inside in their odd garb. Children and adults alike called to one another as they passed in the streets, making it difficult for Tom to hear his guide, but he was able to understand the gist of it.
Their first stop had been what appeared to be a bank, though it was manned by surly- looking goblins. Tom had traded in a few notes for some galleons, they'd been called, enough to "last him at least a year or two," as his guide had put it. Walking back out amongst the crowd, Tom had been amazed upon looking into each window as he passed it. There were such items on display that he'd never seen before, and then the more familiar ones like books and scales. In one store he'd even seen broomsticks, for what purpose he could only imagine.
"Since we've got your money, the next thing you'll be needing is a wand. Mind you, you can't use it 'til you get on over to Hogwarts, so just be keeping that in mind, ya hear?" The man looked down upon him before pushing open the door to the one shop that didn't appear to be brimming with shoppers. A bell rang somewhere in the back of the store, and the short, heavy set man standing behind the counter craned his neck around to see who it was.
"I will be with you in a moment," he called. He disappeared behind shelves lined with small boxes for a moment before returning, one of those small boxes held out in front of him. "Here is your replacement wand, Miss Hadjwacki. Please do try to be careful with this one, as well."
The girl blushed scarlet and fished a few silver sickles from her pocket, handing them over to the wizard before leaving the shop. It was then that Tom was called forward, and he approached the shop owner nervously. He stood on his toes in order to see over the counter, nose pressed against the polished surface and eyes wide.
"First year at Hogwarts, I assume? Well, then, you've come to the best place for a wand. Try this one out." He took a box down from one of the shelves and opened it, revealing a wand about the size of Tom's hand from wrist to tip of his middle finger. "Ash, eight inches, unicorn hair. Go on, then, give it a wave, Mister…?"
"Riddle. Tom Riddle." Tom took the wand from the man and, feeling like a fool, started to wave it around in the air. Nothing happened.
"Hm, well then, that's not for you." The man snatched the wand back and reshelved it, handing the boy another one. "Try this one, then. Mahogany, ten inches, dragon heartstring."
Tom took this one, too, and waved it around. Still, nothing happened. The man shook his head as he took the wand back, this time searching around for a little bit before taking another box down and handing the wand to Tom.
"I do believe this one may do the trick. Try it out; yew, eleven inches, with feather from a phoenix's tail."
Immediately upon grasping the wand Tom felt a surge of power flow through his arm and all the way down to his toes, green and gold sparks shooting from the tip of his wand. They illuminated the dimly-lit shop only slightly and were gone after a moment or two. Tom looked to the man with two raised brows, as if wanting him to confirm that sparks had just shot out of a piece of wood. He still wasn't quite sure he believed all of this, and thought it was all a cruel dream he'd wake up from and be back in the orphanage at any moment.
"Very good! This wand has chosen you, Mister Riddle. That will be one galleon and eight sickles." Tom fished around in his pocket for the money needed as the man put his wand in a box, wrapping it up and handing it over to him in exchange for the coins. "I do hope you enjoy your years at Hogwarts." With a smile the man departed to the back of the store, leaving Tom and his guide to walk back out into the crowded streets of Diagon Alley.
Their other stops all seemed to be a blur to Tom, melding into each other as he bought robes, books, a cauldron, and other such items that he would need. It was a confusing haze of colors and sounds as they walked along the streets, though Tom did remember quite clearly the incident at the pet shop.
He'd been gazing into the glass tank containing a snake at the time, staring into those large yellow orbs that never seemed to blink. The snake's tongue kept flicking in and out, in and out, hooded head swaying to and fro to a rhythm only the snake could hear. Tom was mimicking the snake's movements with his own head; completely oblivious to the crowd he seemed to be drawing. The snake hissed at him, and he hissed right back at it, drawing a gasp from the assembled crowd.
All too soon it was over, with his guide yanking him away from the snake cage and over into one of the less-crowded aisles of the store.
"What do you think you are doing!" His hands were placed on Tom's shoulders, and he shook the boy with each word he spoke. "You can't go around doing things like that, you insolent little child!"
Tom gaped at the man as he was shaken, finally managing to break free of his grip. He didn't understand why it was such a big deal, and finally sighed.
"Okay, I won't do it again. I'm sorry. I didn't know it'd be such a big deal." Tom mumbled his apology, head bowed as if in shame.
"Let's just get out of here," his guide said, glancing frantically over his shoulder.
"But I want a pet…I want to take that snake to Hogwarts with me." Tom couldn't explain it, but he'd always felt a strange attraction for snakes, and having just connected with that one did nothing to lessen it. His voice rose into a whine. "I want a pet!"
"Fine!" His guide snapped at him, whirling around and letting go of the arm he'd been dragging him by. "Get a bloody pet! But snakes aren't allowed at Hogwarts, so you'll need something else." He was practically glaring at the child.
Tom smirked at the man and wandered off in the store, staring into cages that held other animals. There were all sorts of them there, ranging from toads, to rabbits, to owls. The one that caught his attention most was a litter of kittens sleeping curled up next to their mother, and he stopped to stare down into that particular display. With a smile he reached into their pen, scooping up one of the darker kittens and hugging it to his chest. He was careful not to squish the kitten as he brought it to the counter to pay for it, happily following after his guide after getting a small carrying case for his new pet…
"Are you a first year, too?" Malfoy's drawl brought Tom back from his memories with a start, and he looked to the blonde boy for a moment in confusion. Quickly recovering himself, he replied.
"Yes, yes I am. Looking forward to coming here for ages," he added. Something about this Malfoy kid put Tom on edge, and he figured he'd make a good friend.
"Well, I hope we end up in the same house, then. It'd be nice not to have to start all over again. I'm going for Slytherin, myself, and you?"
"Same." Tom tried to sound as nonchalant as he could, as if this whole thing was a breeze for him. He'd read over a few of his books during the week he'd had them before boarding the train, but had found very little information on the different houses. That was probably due to the fact he'd not read Hogwarts: A History, but oh well. He could bluff as well as any.
Malfoy smirked at Tom before once more returning to his magazine, and Tom idly gazed out the window at the passing countryside.
Around noon a witch appeared in their doorway with a trolley of sweets, asking if they'd like anything. Both boys bought a handful of sickles worth of items, dividing the hoard amongst themselves as the train barreled down the tracks. They ate in relative silence, save for the few times one or the other of them exclaimed over a flavor of bean they'd gotten. Tom had quickly learned to avoid the peach-colored ones.
It was growing dark when the train started to slow. The two boys glanced at each other and shrugged, but before anything could be said a girl appeared in the doorway to their compartment. She was older than them, probably by a few years, and had reddish blonde hair with bright blue eyes.
"We're to be arriving at Hogwarts any moment now. The two of you should start getting your robes on. Don't worry about your trunks; the house elves will deliver them to your dorms." She smiled at them and then departed, and Tom cocked a brow. House elves? How would they know whose trunk was whose, anyway?
With a shrug Tom stood up on his seat to reach his trunk on the luggage rack, opening it up and diving inside to find his robes. He pulled them out and shut his trunk, and the two boys changed into their robes, placing their wands inside their pockets. By the time they were done the train had stopped completely, and people started cramming into the corridors to get out. Tom reached once more towards his luggage rack, finding his kitten that he had yet to name and placing inside one of his rather roomy pockets. He grinned and followed Malfoy out onto the platform.
"This way, first years! First years, over here!" The voice was hard to hear above the shouting of the students, but Tom and Malfoy did eventually find their way over to the woman shouting. She was a short woman, with a stooped back and graying hair, a pair of spectacles perched on her nose. She spoke in a nasal whine that sent Tom's hair on end.
"First years!" she continued to shout. "Come this way! Right, is this all of you? Good. I'd like to be the first to welcome you all to Hogwarts. If you'll please follow me, I'll lead you up to the castle." She turned away from the assembled students and started walking; passing the last of the carriages that had taken the older students to the castle and moving instead towards a giant lake.
"Step right up now, four to a boat. Hurry, hurry; we haven't got all day. The sorting is to begin soon." She ushered the first years into the boats waiting at the shore. Tom and Malfoy were joined by two giggling girls that kept shooting what they thought to be furtive glances at the blonde boy, but neither paid Tom any attention. He grunted and crossed his arms over his chest, pretending not to care and gazing into the dark waters of the lake. Already, he could feel his isolation starting.
The boats crossed over the lake without incident, passing underneath what Tom could only assume to be the bottom of a large castle. He'd caught a glimpse of the whole thing a while earlier and gasped, along with the rest of the students. The two girls in the boat with him were only deterred for a moment from their chatting, and after the initial shock had passed went right back to flirting with Malfoy.
At the far end of the lake the small rowboats docked themselves and the students clambered out, one managing to trip over the hem of his robes and fall knee-deep in the lake. Tom smirked at the boy that tripped before following the rest of the class up the stairs, none of them bothering to help the redhead. They were lead into the castle itself and through a pair of large double-doors, towards a tall man with a long beard and twinkling blue eyes. The woman that had brought them this far disappeared through another set of doors, and all eyes went to the man.
"I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, deputy headmaster here and transfiguration teacher. I would like to welcome to you all to Hogwarts. The ceremony will begin in a matter of moments, and you will all be sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Your houses will be like your family during your stay at Hogwarts. Your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose them. At the end of the year the house cup will be awarded to the house with the most points. I wish you all a grand stay at Hogwarts. Follow me." Dumbledore turned and led them through the doors the woman had entered moments earlier, and once more a collective gasp was heard from the students.
They had entered a room that was as large as the whole of the London Orphanage, and Tom's eyes nearly popped out of his skull when he looked around. Four long tables were parallel to each other down the center of the room, with a fifth suspended on a sort of dais that overlooked the other four. At the fifth table were assorted professors of varying ages, the youngest appearing to have just graduated from a university and the oldest looking near a century. The rest of the tables held students eager to be back, chatting amicably amongst themselves and to the ghosts…Wait, ghosts? Tom looked again. Sure enough, there were no less than two dozen ghosts milling around the place, seated between students and gazing longingly at the empty golden platters and cups.
Tom reached into his pocket to find his kitten, stroking its soft fur to steady his nerves. One of the first years to his right gasped and pointed up, and Tom followed suit. The ceiling of the Great Hall was covered with tiny pinpricks of light, obviously the stars that were outside right this very moment. Clouds passed over the full glowing orb in the sky, and Tom looked down to see that the kids in front of him were moving. He hurried to catch up, walking down the center of the hall between two tables and to the large cleared-off area of the Great Hall. In the center there was a stool, and Tom fell in beside Malfoy and the two giggling girls from before in the semi-circle around the stool.
Dumbledore seemed to conjure a hat out of nowhere, placing it on the stool and stepping back a few feet. All chatter ceased almost instantly, and every single eye was focused in on the hat. A moment of silence passed, before the shabby hat tore itself open from the brim, and it started to sing.
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindor apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuff are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap.
The hat drew its song to a close, and the hall erupted in applause. Tom stared in disbelief for a moment or two before joining in. The applause died down eventually, and Dumbledore cleared his throat, taking a piece of parchment from his robes with a flourish.
"I will call you forward one at a time. You are to seat yourself on the stool and place the hat on your head, and you will be seated into the proper house.
"Ashcroft, Blythe!"
A pretty young girl with bright blue eyes, pale skin, and straight black hair hurried forward to the stool, seating herself upon it and placing the hat on her head. There was a moment of silence, and then…
"SLYTHERIN!"
The table to the far right burst into applause, and the girl removed the hat from her head and approached the table, seating herself at the end beside an older student.
"Asotin, Joseph."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
And so it continued, with Dumbledore calling out names and the students stepping forward to place the hat upon their head. Tom grew even more nervous with each student called; stroking the kitten inside his pocket in hopes that it would calm his nerves. Malfoy was called forward, and sure enough the hat barely grazed his head before it shouted "SLYTHERIN!"
He took his seat next to the Ashcroft girl, and one of the giggling girls from the boat was called forward. She was sorted into Hufflepuff along with her friend, a few Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were called, and then it was Tom's turn. He walked slowly up to the stool and hat as if it would bite him, placing it carefully on his head. It was too large for him, falling down past his nose and leaving him blind. Clutching the stool so hard his knuckles were white, Tom silently prayed he was placed in Slytherin with Malfoy.
"You have a great aptitude for learning, boy, and some very strange gifts," the hat whispered in his ear. "Not exactly Hufflepuff material…Not Gryffindor, either, with that malicious streak running through you…Ravenclaw or Slytherin would be the best bet…And what's this? The actual blood of a founder runs through your veins; I was wondering when this would turn up…
"SLYTHERIN!"
The last word was shouted for all to hear, and a relieved Tom slipped the hat from his head and placed it on the stool as the Slytherin table erupted into applause. He walked towards his table, taking a seat on the bench across from Malfoy and grinning broadly. A nod was given to the Ashcroft girl, and then he turned his eyes back to the sorting. It finished quickly after that, with Zilcox, Dagon ("SLYTHERIN!").
Dumbledore removed both stool and hat from the hall after rolling up his scroll, and took his seat beside the other professors at the head table. The man next to him stood up, clearing his throat loudly for attention.
"I'm glad to see that all of you have returned safe and sound this year. There are a few things I would like to mention before we enjoy the welcoming feast. First and foremost, the Forbidden Forest is exactly that: forbidden. For no reason are any students to venture inside of it. First years are not allowed to own brooms, and any found in the possession of one will have said broom confiscated. And, lastly, a number of items have been banned from the castle this year. A full list can be found on the house message boards. On a better note, enjoy the feast!" A clap of his hands filled the empty platters in front of the students with food, the tables practically groaning under the weight. The man speaking, obviously the headmaster, sat down beside Dumbledore, and students and teachers alike dug into their food.
Tom ladled everything within arms reach onto his plate, cramming the food into his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in ages. And it was all so good! He picked up a pork chop and cut off a small piece of it, glancing around to make sure no one was looking before placing it into his pocket to feed his kitten. He was sure it was hungry, having been cooped up inside its cage and Tom's pocket all day.
Eventually Tom saw fit to engage the others in conversation, and turned to the Ashcroft girl with a half-smile.
"Hi, I'm Tom. Tom Riddle. Is your family all decedents of founders, too?" The hat's words had come back to him in that instant, and he couldn't stop them from coming out. Ashcroft cocked a brow in his direction.
"No. Why, are yours?" Her voice was as pretty as her face, and looking closer Tom saw that she had a small amount of freckles dotting her nose. There was enough to add some characteristics, but not so much as to make her look like one of those girls turned ugly from staying out in the sun too long.
"That's what the hat said." Tom shrugged his shoulders, as if it didn't matter anyway. He took another bite of his steak and kidney pie.
"Really? You must be Salazar's kin, then; he was founder of Slytherin. I can't wait to tell my mum I'm friends with Salazar's heir!" She grinned broadly at Tom before turning back to the boy on her right, Dagon Zilcox.
The feast ended soon thereafter, and the first year Slytherins were lead to their common room by one of the prefects, or so they'd called themselves. They followed the boy from the great hall into the dungeons, the temperature dropping the farther they walked. Many were shivering by the time they turned another corner and came to a dead-end, but the prefect stepped forward and turned to address the first years.
"This is the sight of the Slytherin common rooms. The password is Mandrake. You are to tell no one outside our house where our rooms are located, else face the wrath of myself and Ilene." He jerked his head in the general direction of the other sixth-year prefect before turning back to the students. "You will be told each time the password changes. I recommend you remember it, or you'll be left outside to fend for yourself." That having been said, the sixth year turned to face the stone wall once more, and uttered the password. There was a grating sound as the stone wall slid open, allowing all the students to pass through before closing behind them.
Tom took a look around the common room, and smiled. Green leather couches and chairs were sprawled around the spacious room, with black end tables placed next to them. There was a large fire roaring to one side, and Tom caught sight of two staircases leading up to what he could only assume were the different rooms. The boy that spoke before lead the first year boys up one of the stair cases, and Ilene lead the girls up the other one.
"These will be your rooms during your stay at Hogwarts. Your trunks have already been brought up and placed at the foot of your bed. If you need anything, please hesitate to ask." He sneered at the lot of them before walking out and shutting the door behind him, leaving the five boys alone in their new room.
"Who're you two?" Malfoy asked the two boys they hadn't spoken to at dinner.
"Stephen Weasley. And this here is Scott Weasley. We're twins, in case the lot of you are too dense to pick up on that." The one who'd spoken, Stephen, smirked at the three other boys.
"Weasley?" Dagon asked. "I've heard that name before. You're Frank's boys, aren't you? He's my dad's boss at the ministry."
"Yeah, that would be us. Now if you don't mind, we're tired and going to bed. Goodnight." The two brown-haired twins turned their backs on their room mates, changing into their night clothes and climbing into bed. Their green bed-hangings were drawn closed, and they promptly drifted off to sleep.
"We might as well hit the sack as well, class starts tomorrow and all. See you in the morning." Dagon smiled and clambered into his own bed, Tom and Malfoy following suit.
As his room mates snored softly in their respective beds, Tom folded his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling, Blythe's words coming back to him.
Salazar, she'd said, was the founder of Slytherin.
Tom smiled. Salazar would be the perfect name for his kitten. Rolling over onto his side, he drifted off to sleep within moments.
A/N: Just pointing out that the Sorting Hat song was from the first book.