Title: Praeter erratum praeter
Disclaimer:I don't owe any of the characters you may recognise from Rowling's books. (to bad really)
Beta: Kalathetrumpeter
Warning: Some of the characters will be OOC, especially Tom. If you don't like it, don't read the story...
Summary: A youth potion gives Riddle more trouble than he'd expected. First the Death Eaters refuses to take orders from a 16 year-old-boy and Lucius decids to take over. Throwing Riddle out onto the streets. Then he ends up at Hogwarts. "Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance, Tom?" Dumbledore asked.
A/N: I'm tired of the school and everything else. I just want to sleep!!! Well anyway, do any of you actually read the Authors note at the beginning of each chapter?
Well, thanks to my Beta reader for her wonderful job. Gives kalathetrumpeter a huge hug!
Normally I always use to give response to the reviews, and I do love all of you readers, but this time I put my respond up in my Live Journal. So if anyone asked a specific question then that's the place to go. The link is in my bio under homepage.
Here the other day, I was reading through the whole story and I realized that it's pretty stupid. At the moment I just want to remove the whole thing and start all over again, or at least change the beginning. Then again I could put it in the humor section, which properly is where it belongs. Well, enough complains, here's chapter 10.
Previous chapter:
Riddle started rubbing his eyes absently and waited for the Slytherin to continue. He was starting to feel dizzy for some reason, and he felt like he was on the edge of passing out.
"Well, I guess I should go and tell Dumbledore where he can find my useless Heir. After all, we can't risk you dying can we?" he asked maliciously.
"NO! Hey! WAIT!" Riddle screamed and somehow got to his feet, but the ghost had already faded.
"Brilliant!" Riddle said out loud. A wave of nausea suddenly hit him, and he started swaying, and before he could think another thought, he fell to the floor unconscious.
Chapter 10
Riddle felt like a dragon had been chewing on him. His head hurt, his leg felt like it had been torn off, and not mention that his throat was so dry it felt like he'd swallowed a bottle of sand.
He moaned silently, flipped over on his side, and curled up under the blankets.
The sound of low voices reached his ears, but he was asleep before he could pull together enough strength to start listening to what they were saying.
The next time he woke up, the sun was shining through the windows, and he realised he'd been sleeping for a very long time.
With a yawn, he sat up in the bed and looked around. He was in the hospital wing, no surprise there. He was getting tired of hospitals, first he'd spend a nearly a week in St. Mungos, and now he was once again stuck in a sick bed, this time with a broken foot.
The door opened, and Dumbledore stepped through it. A smile broke out on his face as he realized that Riddle was awake. Riddle, on the other hand, scowled at the sight of the old Headmaster.He knew that the old man would try and convince him that the he was better off staying at Hogwarts, and Riddle was starting to, all thought he didn't want to admit it, understand that Dumbledore was right. He didn't have any other places to go.
"Good morning, or should I say good afternoon. It's nearly four p.m., you've been asleep for sixteen hours." Dumbledore said and placed himself on the bed next to Riddle's, "I need to know, Tom, why did you go down to the Chamber of Secrets?"
Riddle greeted his teeth angrily. Why did the old fool always insist on knowing everything about everyone?
"I didn't know where else to go," he finally admitted. Then he suddenly remembered something and looked up.
"I know Salazar told you where I was, but how did you manage to enter the Chamber? You need to be a parselmouth to be allowed in"
"Harry," was the simple reply.
"So…eh…how did he take the news about me being here?"
"Not good," the headmaster honestly admitted, "But I think Miss Granger was able to calm him down."
"Oh," was all Riddle could say.
"So, how did you injure leg?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"None of your business!" Riddle hissed poisonously, suddenly snapping back into his old mood.
"Well, I would like to know anyway," Dumbledore said, smiling gently.
Riddle glared angrily at him, but in the end he gave in and answered, "I forgot the ladder and fell down."
"I see. Well, Madam Pomfrey should be up soon to fix your leg." The headmaster got up and made his way towards the door, but the Slytherin stopped him before he could leave the room.
"What's going to happen to me now?" although Riddle tried to sound like he didn't care about the answer, he failed. He wasn't able to keep a nervous tone from entering his voice.
Dumbledore turned around in the doorframe and answered with a smile, "Let Poppy fix your leg first, and then we'll talk about your stay here."
Riddle had fallen back to sleep by the time the nurse entered the room.
Madam Pomfrey smiled slightly as she came into the room and eyed the sleeping teen, who was currently lying on the bed, curled up in a fetal position.
It was hard to imagine that the sleeping youth was the Dark Lord Voldemort. There wasn't anything about the young boy that reminded the nurse about the snake-like monster who had been terrorizing the Wizard World for years.
She made her way over to the bed and pulled out her wand. It was better to fix the leg before the boy woke up, then he might not notice the pain that came with the spell.
Silently she muttered the complicated healing spell and placed her wand on the foot. A blue light emerged from the tip of the wand, and surrounded the broken leg. Slowly the light pushed the bones back to place, and with a last crack it was soldered together.
Riddle moaned in is sleep and tossed around, making the covers fall off him, but he didn't wake up. In stead he gave one last moan before falling back into deep sleep.
Poppy smiled and pushed the blankets over the sleeping form before retreating back to her office.
The first thing Riddle noticed when he woke up, a couple of hours later, was that his leg wasn't hurting anymore. Carefully he moved it to make sure he wasn't imagining anything. But no, his leg had actually been healed.
The sound of footsteps made him look up, and he saw an older lady with blond hair approach his bed.
"Hello," she smiled, "I'm Madam Pomfrey."
Riddle only stared.
For some reason that only made the nurse's smile widen.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"Not really," he lied.
Madam Pomfrey frowned, and Riddle understood that she had seen straight through his lie.
"I would appreciate if you didn't lie to me, Mr. Riddle," she said.
Riddle's jaw dropped by her words, but he recovered fast.
Bloody hell, he's told the whole school! Riddle thought angry. Not only was he stuck at Hogwarts, but the old fool had also told the whole school who he was. And that was something he would have given a avoid.
"Now give me a straight answer, are you hungry?" Madam Pomfrey asked again, and her voice implied she wouldn't be tolerant of another lie.
"Yes, I'm hungry. Happy?" he sneered.
"Yes. Then I'll go and fetch some food for you."
Riddle followed her with his eyes as she left, thinking that the nurse wasn't someone you disagreed with. As soon as the door closed behind her, he fell back down on the bed, and closed his eyes.
I want to die, he thought sadly. Life was really starting to get unbearable.
Are you getting suicidal as well? a voice asked inside his head.
Riddle sighed and didn't bother answering the voice. He had thought about suicide more than once over the last couple of days. But before he could think more about it, the nurse entered carrying a tray.
"Here," she said and placed the tray before him, "Albus will be up in a moment."
Riddled nodded slowly and grabbed the fork. He really was hungry, so he started picking through the food on the plate with out complains.
He didn't have to wait long before Dumbledore arrived, smiling brightly at him.
"God morning," he smiled, and Riddle nodded.
"How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked and conjured a chair out of thin air. He sat slowly and looked at Riddle.
"Better," Riddle answered honestly and took a new piece of steak.
"Good, good. Because I have a proposition for you."
"Do I actually get to choose this time?" Riddle asked suspiciously.
Dumbledore's eyes started to twinkle, "Depends on how you see it."
Riddle raised an eyebrow skeptically. Yeah, that sounded very reassuring.
"Well, let's hear?"
Dumbledore smiled and began to speak, "The choice is really very simple. You see, your dear Lucius Malfoy has been kind enough to inform the Ministry of your little problem. Cornelius is furious and wants you sent to Azkaban this instant. I'm just coming from a meeting with him."
Dumbledore looked at Riddle, who had gotten paler when he mentioned Azkaban Prison.
"But I think I managed to convince him to let you stay here for the time being."
Riddle sighed in relief.
"So, your choice is, you either stay here for the next two years, take the classes, or you can go to Azkaban.
You have all ready tried to become the most feared wizard in the world, and you reached your goal. You became the Dark Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You got over hundred followers, who followed you and feared you. But haven't you ever wondered how life would have been if you had chosen another path?"
Dumbledore paused for a moment before continuing.
"Everyone deserves a second chance, Tom. Even you. Please consider it."
Riddle was silent for nearly ten minutes. His thoughts were swirling around in his head. He could start all over again. Dumbledore was right. He had often wondered about how his life would have been if he'd chosen another path.
Well, he didn't really have a choice when it came to that. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he stayed at Hogwarts.
"You know, that isn't a choice," Riddle snarled.
"Yes, it is," Dumbledore said.
"Fine, whatever."
"And your decision?"
"I'm staying," Riddle muttered.
Dumbledore smiled widely, and Riddle scowled. The old man was fare too happy for his liking.
"I'm glad, Tom, and I will get someone to go to Diagon Alley and pick up the things you will be needing for your stay."
"Hold on a moment," Riddle said slowly, "I've got one condition."
Dumbledore sighed. He knew what was coming.
"I want to be in Slytherin! I'm after all the Heir of Slytherin, and I'm not going to spend two years in Gryffindor!"
"Tom," Dumbledore started, but he was cut of by Riddle.
"No!"
Dumbledore sighed again. He knew that it was no use to try and convince the stubborn youth that he would be better of in Gryffindor, and quite frankly hadn't he expected anything else.
"I'll make the arrangement. You will have your own room, and a new wand."
"What?"
"Well, there is no more room in the boys dorm, and Lucius still has your wand."
"Oh, okay."
"Satisfied?" Dumbledore asked and watched the Slytherin, who was walking around in his new room.
The room was huge, and Riddle recognised it as the Head Boy room. It was done in green and sliver, with a huge four-poster bed in the middle of the room. A fireplace was placed on the opposite wall, two black armchairs in front of it. Three huge windows allowed the sun to light up the room, and a three-piece suite stood in the corner beside the windows. A couple of bookshelves and a desk took up most of the wall left for the bed, and a huge wardrobe and the door that led into the bathroom occupied the right one. Various paintings of landscapes and animals hung on the walls, and helped making the room more welcoming.
"Yeah, it's nice," Riddle smiled.
"Good. Then I'll leave you to yourself. You school supplies are on you desk along with a new wand. Good night."
Riddle nodded and watched the headmaster leave. When the door closed behind him, Riddle let himself fall onto the bed and closed his eyes. He needed sleep.