Inception: Rise of the Heir

After the murder of Hepzibah Smith, Tom Riddle disappeared for ten long years. He sank deeper into the Dark Arts & pursued knowledge that others could only dream of, consorting with the darkest members of wizarding society. With his eyes set on North America, he has no idea that the magic he so desperately seeks will shape his life & his inevitable future for years to come. TomxOC

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for my o/c's and my own storyline.

The sky had long since darkened from a bleak grey to a familiar black by the time Tom had decided to leave the Athenaeum. After descending down it's cold, dark stone steps he took to the streets, he had spent so much time within it's belly that the warmth of the day had expired and had instead been replaced by a soft mist as the chill of the night air set in. The glow of the street lamps coupled with the thick fog of the air gave the night a gloomy expression, his shadow lurking faintly behind him. The clouds at his feet loomed as far as he could see, their vapor seemingly almost tangible, shrouding everything beneath them in the thick white veil. Echoes and sounds of the daylight had faded away, the crowds of chatter and laughter had all disappeared and he watched as the the mist devoured his footsteps like a greedy beast. He stared ahead towards the streets that lay before him, his mind preoccupied as he placed one foot in front of the other, slowly making the long walk back to the inn.

Today had proven long and largely unsuccessful for him, he had spent numerous hours, minutes, seconds, sifting through various spells and books that held many interesting pages of knowledge that would benefit his own personal interests, but nothing that could explain Lyra's mysterious affliction. Out of curiosity, he had even indulged his mind to peruse through books filled with curses and maledictions, but he quickly ruled those out based on her symptoms and the lack of an identifiable beast. In the beginning, Tom knew that this task this would prove to be a challenge and he found himself filled with agitation as the thought of it starting to consume his mind, his thoughts brimming with the desire, the nagging need to understand just exactly what it was and how it worked. He frowned as his thoughts strayed back to earlier, when she had caught him off guard, her prying eyes full of suspicion.

"She knows that I know...or at least she suspects that I know something...I've got to be careful about how I treat this going forward. I can't put my own reasons for why I'm here at risk for something that is nothing more to me than a curiosity." Tom narrowed his eyes as he continued to walk down the long cobbled street, his brain still racing anxiously as he continued to think about her.

Perhaps it was time to change strategy.

He had thought it would be so easy to find her secrets out and use them to his advantage, but it was proving to be more problematic than he had anticipated. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that blackmail or leverage over her wouldn't work in his favor to get what he wanted. He needed her full cooperation for certain areas that were of interest to him and he knew it would prove difficult without her.

"I need her to trust me in order to get what I want."

Earlier it had become apparent to him that her increasing failures were making her become guarded and protected and when she had noticed what he had been reading in the library, her demeanor towards him had changed. She had withdrawn from his presence quickly and without hesitation, when she had suddenly realized she had let her guard down. A feeling he understood very well, for he had also made mistakes in his young hubris, letting others be privy to information he should have kept hidden instead. Tom chewed on the inside of his cheek as he thought about the travels ahead.

True - he had enjoyed his privacy and solitude in Salem, but he knew as they moved onward, his precious solitude might have to be sacrificed. In time he knew there would sometimes be no choice, they would be forced to spend more time together regardless of their objections and if he wanted to reap everything that America had to offer, he needed to find a way to beguile her.

The inn suddenly came into focus before him as he approached it slowly, pausing to look up into the night sky. The stars glittered against the indigo blackness creating twisted and warped shapes, glowing and dancing endlessly for as far as he could see. He looked down reluctantly, his attention drifting back towards his lodgings and immediately felt his desire to go inside slip away, wanting instead to walk underneath the veil of night a little while longer.

"If this is to be the last of my privacy...I should try to make the most of it..."

His mind continued to wander as he walked past the inn and proceeded further down the square, placing his hands into his coat pocket to pull it around him tightly, fending off the sting of the night air against his chest. Tom walked alone, lost for hours between thoughts and logic that continued to linger on inside his head, his mind still consumed as he strolled down the dimly lit side streets and pathways that seemed to go on endlessly until he found himself in an area he no longer recognized. The pavement was cracked and unkempt, the glow of the street lamps had all but disappeared and there was nothing that lay before him but an overgrown path that led into the dark and overgrown forest ahead. He hesitated as he stared at the wild and over run walkway before him, dried leaves lay on the ground, untouched and unbroken, scattered over the multitude of gnarled black roots that spread across the pathway, like a crude blanket sheltering it's secrets.

"It seems as if this part of the woods has not been disturbed in some time..."

Tom thought back to the inn and the warm bed that lay waiting for him and shook his head defiantly, reaching into his pocket. His fingers wrapped around the small metal flask Lyra had given him and pulled it out carefully, his eye's watching the moonlight flicker off it's surface before uncorking it and sipping deeply. He closed his eyes in revulsion and winced as he swallowed the liquid, feeling it burn like wildfire as it made its way down his throat and into his belly. Wiping his mouth with the band of his hand, he quickly placed it back into his pocket, pulling his wand out instead as he took a step towards the black of the forest in front of him.

The woods were dark and foreboding but despite their fearful appearance, he found a strange, sullen peace in his surroundings. His eyes flickered over the thick dark trunks of the trees that rose steadily into the night sky, their leaves and branches swaying with the night wind and took a deep breathe as the air hit his face. The forest was densely packed together, leaving only small spaces for a single person to travel though, Tom grazed his hand against the rough bark of a neighboring tree and ran a hand through his hair as the smell of fungi and wet moss assaulted his nostrils. The musty aroma of the leaves, fresh with the dew of the night, the warm soil under his feet that felt like a velvety cushion all teemed with magic.

He felt as if the forest was alive.

"This place reminds me of home…" he mused, reminiscing back to his days in Hogwarts, where he had often stolen time and chance to wander around in the old and foreboding woods of the forbidden forest, trying desperately to learn its secrets and those of the creatures that dwelled inside. The other students had always been terrified of the dark woods, the teachers always adding to fuel to the fire of their fears, nagging at them them to stay away, but he felt as if was akin to it somehow, its dark secrets and strange creatures more interesting than terrible.

Tom thought back to the warnings that Lyra had given him about the forest. " - I also feel the need to warn you once more Tom, the air here is dripping with Old Magic. You will feel things...you will hear things. I ask that you ignore these...abnormalities. Things are not always what they seem here and hearing voices is rarely a sign of anything useful or helpful...Spending more time than necessary in the forests here is an unwise decision."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head in disagreement. The only thing remotely alarming he had seen in the woods had - in fact - been her and he had been able to handle that with the smallest amount of ease.

"Ridiculous. If that was your way of ensuring I wouldn't follow you into the woods and discover your secret, then it didn't work. The forbidden forest held more dangers than anything these woods have shown me so far. There's nothing here but trees."

Tom felt his eyes begin to grow heavy as he came to a stop, rubbing his forehead as he took one last look around. The night had been long and he had walked for hours after he had left the Athenaeum, intentionally of course - but now his exhaustion was starting to wear on him and the allure of a good nights sleep was too enticing to pass up once more. He pulled his wand out as he prepared to disapparate, but paused as he heard a whisper of a voice call out to him.

He turned his head slowly as the faint murmurs once more started to beckon to him, the tones behind it silky and soft.

"Please don't leave."

Tom raised his wand as he looked around, trying to find the source of the whispers.

"Who's there? Show yourself." he said rigidly.

"If I show myself, I won't be able to help you.." the voice said as it grew, no longer a whisper but less harsh than a normal, it's sound far off and distant. As for its sex he could not tell for it sounded like neither man nor woman.

"And why would I need help?" he said cautiously.

The voice spoke once more, this time it's answer sly and dripping with desire. "I can give you power. I can give you knowledge...Isn't that what you are looking for?"

"What knowledge can you give me that I don't already possess?" Tom replied as he realized from where the noise was coming and started to follow it slowly, stepping over the branches and bramble that lay at his feet. "What could you possibly teach me?"

It paused momentarily as Tom hesitated, his heart beating heavily in his chest. Although all of his senses were telling him to disapparate, to leave the woods at once, his curiosity had been roused and he wanted to see who the whispers belonged to.

"I can teach you many things, how to conquer your adversaries, how to become more powerful than you could ever imagine and how to master death itself. Is this not what you desire?"

Tom narrowed his eyes as he raised his wand in suspicion. "How do you know what I desire?"

The replies were becoming louder now and Tom cleared a few branches from from his path with his wand as he continued to follow it through the brush and thicket, looking around warily at his surroundings. It sounded so close, as if whoever it belonged to was standing mere feet away.

"I know what everyone desires."

"If you have the power to see what I desire, then what else do you see?" Tom said brazenly as he stepped into a large barren clearing which housed nothing except dirt, rubble and a dark, looming entrance to what appeared to be an enormous cave. The voice waited a few minutes before replying.

"I see a man, half born of magic, who reeks of death and fear."

Tom stepped forward as he shook with anger. "Such bold words for someone who hides in the shadows like a coward. Show yourself at once and we'll see who smells more like fear."

He looked around impatiently as he waited for a response, but as he gazed around at the surroundings he realized that the clearing was eerily silent and empty, there was no sign of any life and he slowly felt the hair on the back of his neck start to stand on end, alerting him to stay focused. Lifting his wand above his head, he murmured quietly as it's tip started to glow, illuminating the night around him so he could get a closer look at the shadows and forms that danced around him in the pale of the moonlight.

Angry pounding started to thrum inside his head as the light from his wand fell upon a set of claw marks in the tree nearest to him, his eyes tracing the marks as he looked over towards the mouth of the cave, which held identical gashes that ran deep into the rocks surface.

"What kind of creature could make claw marks in solid stone?"

Tom wrinkled his nose in disgust as a putrid odor suddenly hit his nose, his eyes turned back to the cave once more as a shadowy figure emerged through it's opening and into the dim clearing in which he stood. He felt his lids open wide in horror as a creature, half man and half beast looked back at him from the cave with sunken eyes as hollow and blank as a doll, its shriveled and decayed skin hung over its sharp bones, like an ashen grey burial shroud. The head of the beast resembled that of a dead bull's, its lips tattered and bloody revealing a set of large razor sharp teeth, stained and rotted. It's arms dragged at its sides, each finger as long as Tom's wand and baring a long sharp ragged claw. The creature was unclean and looked as if it were already half decomposed, smelling like rotten flesh and death.

"This is no ordinary monster..."

He backed up slowly, his wand raised towards the creature as he felt a branch snap and break under his foot.

The beast turned it's head quickly towards him, as if the noise had suddenly reminded it of his presence, lunging instantly towardd where he had stood. Tom sent a curse immediately towards the beast as he dodged out of it's way just in time, it's claws barely missing him by inches. The creature, despite its gaunt and weakened looking appearance was faster than any other he had ever encountered and he felt his heart leap in fear at the close call.

It lurched towards him again as Tom sent another curse its way, smiling as he heard it hit it's mark, the beasts bones snapping in response. He listened as the creature howled in pain, nursing its wounds as it stared at him dangerously, pacing the enclosure as if it were a predator hunting it's prey. Tom exhaled softly, watching the cold night air escape his mouth in small clouds as he watched the beast carefully, his heart dropping when the sound of cracking bones assaulted his ears once more, the creature quickly healing itself, popping its bones back into place.

"How is that even possible?"

Realizing that he was fighting a losing battle with the monster before him and that it would not be defeated to easily, Tom sent another curse back towards it's direction, trying to immobilize it to buy himself time to disapparate.

It was his only option.

As the creature screamed in pain, he picture the inn in his mind, concentrating carefully so as not suffer a splinch and felt his heart skip a beat as he watched the world suddenly twist around him, his disapparation almost successful until he felt a searing pain rush across his shoulder; the creature had recovered more quickly than he had thought and had struck him in the arm with its long jagged claws, the agony beyond comparison.

"It's moving too fast for me to even try to disapparate...every curse I throw at it seems to do nothing at all."

Clutching his arm in pain, he dodged its attack once more as the monster jumped from tree to tree, rounding him up like a cattle for slaughter. Curse after curse, he tried to keep it at bay, burning and blowing the branches apart that the creature crouched from - but to no avail. Without the curses he had become so partial to, it seemed there would be nothing that could stop it's assault, it was simply too fast. Despite his best efforts, the beast was unharmed and unfazed, it's dead eyes still focused on Tom, growling and howling viciously.

Tom winced as he tried to raise his arm, the wounds he had sustained almost mind numbing, the feeling as if he was being stabbed with hot knives and out of desperation he opened his mouth to recite the words that had never failed him, despite his knowledge that he might be hunted down for using them.

"I have no other choice."

Lyra sighed as she knelt over the Staghorn mushrooms, carefully collecting and placing them in a glass bottle until she felt satisfied that there was enough to not only replenish her stores, but brew the potion as well. She stood up and placed the small jar inside her cloak as she wiped her hands against each other in an effort to rid herself of the soil and moss that had enveloped her hands and lodged themselves under her fingernails. She rubbed her forehead as she pulled her wand out, eager to get back to the inn and start brewing the potion she had discovered.

"I hope this works…" she thought to herself as she went to wave her wand. "If it doesn't then I wasted a perfectly good bath for nothing."

She heard rustling to her right as she paused her incantation, curious as to it's origin and took a step back as a small family of deer ran out from the thicket before her, panicked and running as fast as they could past where she stood. She watched in alarm as other creatures started to follow suit and looked upwards into the sky noticing flocks of birds fly away from the direction of the brush that the deer had just abandoned moments before.

"Strange..."

Lyra raised her wand and cautiously walked in the direction from which the animals were fleeing, taking a sip from her flask to ward off any unforeseen threats, unwilling to become prey to something larger and more troublesome. The woods were eerily silent, more so than they had ever been before and she watched as she was slowly able to see her breath before her, escaping from her mouth like little puffs of smoke.

"It's colder around here. Something's not right...it's cold but I shouldn't be able to see my breath like this around this time of the year...it's not natural."

She walked forward cautiously as she heard trees breaking and a large growl echo from off ahead in the distance making her heart freeze in her chest. Lifting her wand in anticipation, she neared the clearing from where she had heard the noises and even though she was still standing at a far enough distance, she smelled an odor that immediately raised the hair on her neck in fear, the goose pimples forming on her skin.

"I know that smell." Recognizing what it was, Lyra immediately took a step backwards, not willing to ensnare herself in the animals trap or risk her life, she was wholly unprepared and not even her advanced expertise could help coach her through something so dangerous.

Ignoring the twinge of guilt in her chest, she turned around to disapparate, knowing that the fate of the person who had been unfortunate enough to cross paths with that particular beast had been sealed, it was too late for help. She had never encountered one before in person, but remembered reading about them in school, studying them though various books and literature and from what she had deduced they were far worse than any hide behind or dark creature a wizard could encounter, it would be foolish to even try to help.

Lyra stopped in her tracks as she heard a voice yell, one that she was altogether too familiar with.

"CONFRINGO!"

She watched in horror as two trees in the distance were blasted into pieces, and through the brush and green refuge around her, she could make out the familiar shadow of a figure she knew, revealing who had been behind the screams and her eyes caught a glimpse of the beast that stood before him, making her heart drop.

"Tom?!"

Without hesitation, she felt herself run towards the clearing, watchin in horror as the beast slowly descended upon Tom, its gaunt and ragged body arched as it tore at him once more, claws outstretched as he barely moved out of the way in time. As she entered the clearing, her chest heaving and her wand before her, she screamed out his name, trying to distract the beast.

"TOM!"

Lyra's face twisted in dread as Tom leaned on a tree opposite her holding his bloody and limp arm, his expression unreadable as his eyes fell on her.

"Think Lyra. Think..." She screamed at herself internally, trying to remember what she had read about the beast, its weaknesses, its fears and felt her heart skip hopefully as her mind presented her with an answer.

Chanting loudly, her wand raised to the sky, she watched as a large growing flame flew forth from the small piece of wood in her hands, barreling towards the creature wildly, an inferno breaking out around them. It howled in pain as the flames engulfed its body, its shrieks and howls of agony growing louder as it deperately ran towards her, eager to destroy the cause of it's suffering. The creature was fast, faster than she could have imagined and before Lyra could move out of harms way, she felt the tips of its claw rake across her stomach, ripping and tearing through her flesh and bone.

A searing pain tore through her body, leaving her gasping for air and she felt herself suddenly drop to her knees, the ground wet and soft below her. Despite her anguish she refused to look down towards her wound, focusing steadily on the spell she had cast, still trying to confine the beast.

A swell of relief over took him as he pushed himself up off the tree, regaining his composure as Lyra subdued the beast, her raven hair billowing against the wind as the wildfire she had created engulfed them all. It was nothing short of chaos, between the beasts agonizing screams and the fire that threatened to swallow them all, he struggled to figure out a way to add to the solution, his knowledge of this creature limited to what he had only just witnessed.

"It was foolish of me to come here." He thought as he winced in pain, swinging his injured arm over to his side. A loud bellow broke his concentration and he looked over towards Lyra and the creature, watching it gain speed as it leapt into the air, swiping viciously towards her, its barbed talons catching her in the belly before landing across from them once more, shrieking in pain. Forgetting the pain in his arm, he looked in alarm towards Lyra, now on the ground, desperately trying to fend it off.

"Fire Tom! That's the only way to destroy it!" she grimaced as her other hand gripped her stomach in pain, her spell waning as she lost strength.

Raising his wand, Tom watched the beast, still on fire, try to escape back into it's dark cave, howling in fear as it realized it's inevitable doom, unwilling to fight them any longer. He flicked his wand quickly as the flames from her wand transformed, turning the anarchy of her fiendfyre charm into a orderly ring of fire, effectively blocking the monster from running back to safety. It screamed in fury as back away from the wall of heat, acknowledging that it was now trapped and instead changing its course, running towards Tom with all it's might, it's sharp teeth gleaming brilliantly against the blaze of the fire, ready to tear him to pieces. He slashed his wand into the air in retaliation as a giant spout of fire poured from his wand in the shape of a serpent, charging at the beast before swallowing it whole. Pitious wails filled the night around them, the smell of scorched flesh and blood lingering in the air until the screams suddenly stopped and all was quiet once more.

"Is it dead?" Tom quickly flicked his wand as he watched the fires eventually fade and disappear, the clearing submerged in a cloud of billowing smoke. Waving his wand gently, the smoke slowly dissipated as he walked carefully through them, until something crunched under his foot and he looked down to find the charred remains of the creature below him, it's body suddenly scattering to the wind around them.

Before he could revel in his success, a small whimper caught his attention, his eyes racing over to where Lyra had been, her delicate figure huddled and slumped over at the base of a tree, gasping for breath as she held her stomach. Tom walked over slowly, staring down at the woman in front of him.

"Why did she help me?"

Her act had both surprised and angered him, but right now he had no time to think about either of those things. Through her hand he could see vast amounts of blood oozing from between her fingers, her face white and ghostly. Her injuries were grave and he knew that without his help she would surely die from either infection or hemorrhage. He stared at her carefully, fighting with himself as to whether he would help her or not, as much as he knew he was to blame for the incident, he felt no guilt for her injury for he hadn't asked for her help - instead she had given it willingly.

"If I let her die, I may never be able to discover what I seek. It is the sole reason I needed her to begin with..."

The color started to fade from her cheeks as he weighed his options, torn between what he wanted to do and what he needed.

"Damn her." He reluctantly thought to himself as he knelt down in front of her, trying to remove her shaking hands from her stomach. He needed to see how deep her wounds went before he proceeded, if he went about any of this the wrong way it would prove to be a useless feat. She looked up at him with weak eyes and grabbed his wrist suddenly, her bloody hand on his as she shook her head, her raven hair stuck to the sweat on her face, choking on her own words and blood.

"Tom...no. Let...me…die.."

He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he tore her bloody hand from off his arm and laid it back down at her side.

"No." he said calmly as he waved his wand over her stomach, watching as her wounds started to close and heal. "I need you alive. You're no use to me dead."

He heard her whimper, the small breaths that escaped from her lips growing shallow accompanied by strange sounds that emanated from her throat. He glanced up at her face quickly, watching her eyes close and roll back into her head, her body seizing violently underneath him. Tom grabbed her shoulders firmly as he tried to shake her awake, he knew all too well what was about to happen.

He had finally killed one beast only to be faced with another.

"Lyra wake up. WAKE UP!"

He watched as her eyes slowly fluttered open, black and glistening like diamonds in the night sky. She was starting to change.

"This is the last thing either of us need tonight." He thought to himself. "Whatever it is that lives inside you is going to have to take tonight off. I'm in no mood."

Waving his wand over her head, he whispered gently, the sleeping spell pouring out from his wand in light blue puffs as it danced around her head, her eyes closing softly as he felt her body grow limp underneath him. The night breeze licked at his wounded shoulder as he grimaced in pain, reminding him of how vulnerable they were at the moment and he silently cursed. He needed to heal her as well as himself, but in a much more suitable location.

Tom bent over hesitantly before picking her listless body up in his arms, looking in revulsion at the front of his shirt, what was once white was now full of dirt and blood as he pressed her body to his. With a sudden -CRACK- they both disappeared from the woods, disapparating into thin air.

Well this chapter was WAY longer than I had intended it to be BUT I really honestly didn't know where to cut it off. I've been working on this chapter for a bit, its SO HARD to try to NOT have Tom be OOC. In my mind I think that Tom would mostly be standoffish and arrogant, and only be nice or do nice things when they benefit him, so it's definitely taken me awhile to figure out a situation that would really finally bring both characters together. Also I do think that Tom would be arrogant enough to not really know MUCH about magical creatures and underestimate the danger they hold because in the books he ALWAYS overlooked creatures he thought to be below him. But I do think that he would fear bodily harm somewhat, knowing what state it would leave him in if he lost his body. So I don't doubt that he would definitely run into trouble in other countries when it comes to dealing with certain creatures, traditions and would definitely show an arrogant recklessness when it comes to his physical state of being. Please Comment or Review, Fav or Follow if you have enjoyed! The more I get back the more I'm motivated to write! Next chapter is coming within a week! Stay tuned!