Inception: Rise of the Heir
Tom Riddle disappeared for 10 years. Where did he travel and what did he do during his absence? This is my feeble attempt at a Tom Riddle backstory, right before he rejoined the world officially as Lord Voldemort.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for my o/c's.
The minutes had turned into hours, that had stretched on for days as he sat hunched over the wooden table in his small quarters sifting through various pieces of parchment and notes. He tapped his quill against the walnut colored wood of the desk as he rubbed his finger over his bottom lip, lost in thought. The locket lay before him, golden and gleaming as the glow of the light danced across its surface. It's face was smooth and elegant, the only imperfection was a missing stone from the bottom of a perfectly formed "S" emblazoned in emerald like jewels.
Getting the jewel out of its setting had been the easy part, it was old and delicate, so he took great care in it's removal and preservation, but figuring out now how to harness and use its power was another. He picked up the small green jewel and held it between his fingers as he stared at it intently.
"All the passages on Horned Serpents jewels I had read only describe the possibilities and powers attributed to the stones. None go into detail on how to add it to a potion or how it should be handled, nor did the creature itself tell me how to use it."
He furrowed his brows as he placed the gem down gingerly onto the table. If there was one thing he despised more than anything else in the world, it was a lack of knowledge and blind assumptions.
"Every book has been redundant and uninformative. There are only small mentions and nods to how powerful the stones could be and how rare it is to come across one...all folklore and old wives tales. If there's ever been a potion or spell in existence that called for a horned serpents jewel, it doesn't exist anymore. I've spent days on researching its properties and I've gotten little to no answers."
Tom continued to stare at the gem as his agitated mind had settled on a decision. "I have no other choice than to treat the jewel as if it were any other other stone or hard ingredient. It must be ground into a fine dust before being added to a potion. That should allow it to at least blend properly. Of the other circumstances I am still unsure, how to stir it in properly and the brew time most specifically. I mustn't waste a single grain of dust on improperly thought out scenarios."
Thinking back to properties of certain stones, metals and gems he had used in other potions and draughts, he tried to remember exactly which had been used in elixirs and what the instructions had been. He wrote down the few that sprang to his mind.
"Pearls...Silver...Moonstones…"
He paused at the last ingredient and tapped his quill on the parchment.
"Moonstone. I wonder how far along Lyra has come brewing her potion?"
It had been three days since he had returned from the woods. After apparating into the small alleyway beside the inn, he had entered and made his way up the creaky wooden staircase, lost in thoughts over his newfound knowledge and found himself pausing at the entrance to her room. He had heard her on the other side, scurrying around like an animal, the sound of clinking glasses and the soft patter of her feet against the floor as she brewed her hopeful potion. He had only paused momentarily but he heard the noise on the other side of the door grow silent as he lingered.
He smiled at the absence of noise and he could imagine her, standing in her room in fevered anticipation, waiting for him ro rush in and concede to her. But he would not...not yet anyway. He would try her patience for a few painstaking days before he himself was ready and the idea of her anxiety set him on fire.
No one would ever force him to bend to their will.
In the days to come, he had come to realize in order for his plan to work, her potion needed to fail, for what good would his jewel be without her need for it? He did not have the ingredients at his disposal to brew a new potion for her, or the time. He would need to add the gem to the draught she had brewed after completion, after it had failed. He cursed himself silently for his momentary weakness in suggesting a better potion ingredient than the one she had intended to use.
"Staghorn caps would have proved a complete failure, especially in her advanced state. I can only hope that whatever it is that ails her is too strong for moonstone as well…"
He bowed his head slightly in reassurance. "I've seen with my own eyes the -thing- she becomes. Moonstone is strong...but it will not stop her. There may be no ingredient that could help her but this..."
Tom looked at the stone as his thoughts trailed off, taking his eyes off it quickly as they scanned the parchment before him. His musings had distracted him from his focus and he continued to contemplate how to mix the jewel in properly.
"Most times the stone or gem is the final ingredient added, being stirred in either clockwise or counterclockwise depending on what it is you're trying to achieve. If it is a potion that is trying to achieve something permissive you would stir clockwise anywhere from three to seven times. If it is a preventative potion then one would stir counterclockwise with anywhere from two to six strokes...If I were to add this to a draught to prevent harm from coming to the drinker I would need to stir counterclockwise for at the very least 4 strokes…"
He half smiled and wrote his notes furiously down on a fresh piece of parchment, confident with his decision. He dipped his quill back into the ink quickly and tried to determine how long the Horned Serpent jewel would take to adhere to the potion. It was a grueling and meticulous process, but he enjoyed the challenge. He had always been extremely adept at potions and was quite successful at creating a few new ones himself.
"When I placed the necklace on myself for the first time, it almost immediately restored my appearance. The fragment of the jewel I'll be using in the potion is minimal, but when ingested it should become effective quickly if not immediately. The brewing time should only be at most one hour, with the first dose administered right away."
His long pale fingers grasped the quill as its tip scratched violently against the parchment, recording last of his notes down. Placing the quill down gently aside his inkwell, he raised his wand and gave it a small flick. A small glass vial appeared in his hand as he placed it gently onto the table.
"Now all that's left is to turn the jewel to a fine dust." He thought as he pointed his wand towards the small gem, it rising slowly up off the table and hovering effortlessly above the small glass jar.
"Pulveo." Tom said softly as he watched the small jewel deconstruct and pour into the vial, like sand in an hourglass.
Once the jewel had completely disintegrated, he held the small vial up to his face, the green powder sparkling and shining brilliantly from behind the glass as the light danced across it. Grabbing a cork he quickly placed it atop the small phial, so as to not spill any of the contents, and set it down gingerly upon the table.
"The hardest part is over."
He pushed the chair back from the table and leaned back as he raised his head towards the ceiling, crossing his arms behind his head. He was feeling particularly illustrious as he thought about everything he had accomplished and the great fortune that had befallen him while he had wandered the forest.
"By this time tomorrow, if everything goes according to plan, I'll have exactly what I want." He thought to himself as he closed his eyes.
His eyes had only been closed for a moment when a large crash could be heard through the thick stone walls of his chamber, followed by a scream and a series of what sounded like glasses smashing and hitting the floor.
His eyes jerked open as he stood up quickly, grabbing his wand and racing towards the door to see what had caused the noise. Pausing momentarily, he glanced back towards the green vial and the locket on the table as his mind and mouth spoke the same word.
"Lyra."
Tom quickly grabbed the vial and stuffed it into his pocket, while tossing the locket into his open suitcase, closing it hastily and locking it with a flick of his wand. He turned around and quickly opened the door to find, to his dismay, that he was not the only one who had heard the noise, a few of the other guests who had rooms on the same floor had opened the doors to their chambers and were standing halfway into the hall, rubbing their eyes and mumbling as they stared in confusion.
"What's all this racket then?" A plump witch said angrily from the door closest to his as she made her way out into the hallway, her sleeping dress entirely too tight for her large body, the striped yellow and red pattern making her look like a large overstuffed couch.
Another wizard, elderly and thin looked out from his doorway a little further on down the hall, a long nightcap dragging the floor behind him as he grumbled "We're trying to sleep!"
Tom closed his door quietly behind him and tried to placate the guests as he motioned towards Lyra's door, his voice soft and reassuring.
"I'm so sorry if my friend disturbed you, you see she's got a terrible case of levitation sickness and she's probably just fallen out of bed. She's been quite ill all day, I was just about to go and check on her."
The overweight witch, whose demeanour had immediately changed as she observed how handsome he was, smoothed out her appallingly tight nightdress and spoke in a sweeter and kinder tone. Tom watched as the flesh that hung from her large arms jiggled and slapped against her sides. He thought of Hepzibah Smith once more as he tried to keep the look of repulsion from his face.
"Oh it's no problem at all. Yes, you must check in on your friend, what a kind man you are! Well, if you need anything dear don't hesitate to ask!"
He looked back towards Lyra's door as he tried to encourage the woman back inside her quarters. "Thank you so much for your kindness, now if I may-"
"Of course, of course! Back to bed I go, it's very late you know! And you best mind your business too!", She said as she pointed at the old wizard down the hall as he grumbled and shut the door behind him, disappearing inside his room.
"Goodnight dear." She said as Tom nodded towards her, watching a rosy blush creep up her wobbling cheeks as she finally entered her room and closed the door behind her.
He turned immediately towards Lyra's chambers, his wand held firmly in his hand as he flicked it towards the door, unsure of what he would find.
Lyra stared at a small glass vial in her hand as she tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, and placed it back into her wooden cabinet, scrawling small notes upon a small parchment as she wrote down which of her stores needed replenishing and where she could find them.
"Leeches…pearl dust...bat wings...There's so much I need to restock, this will take weeks!" She thought as she scribbled furiously.
Her ventures in Salem had dwindled her stores and she knew it was unwise to keep traveling in her condition without a fully stocked ingredient cabinet. She closed the door carefully and walked over to the small wooden table next to the hearth and started to pile the various books and parchments she had been reading into organized stacks and took out her wand, gracefully flicking it into the air as she watched the various assortment of literature float and disappear into the small purse in which her whole life resided.
It had been days since she had last seen Tom and she was unsure if he would ever come. Her stomach sank as she continued to tidy her room and return everything to its proper place.
"With or without him, I need to move on. I can't continue to waste my time here when there are more pressing matters to attend to. My stomach isn't completely healed but if I travel slowly I'll be able to manage. The potion is almost complete and by tomorrow I'll hopefully be able to take my first dose and resume my travels without worry."
She felt a sharp pain race through her head and she brought her hands up to her face to rub her temples. As the pain slowly subsided, it fell into a dull rhythmic throbbing and she closed her eyes to try to ease the aches.
"I need to lay down." Lya thought to herself as she made her way over to the small bed and gently sat down. "This must be a result of all the stress I've been under for the past weeks."
As she lay back into the bed she felt a bitter disappointment resonate through her body. "Tom never came..I really thought he would, maybe not a first, but at least by now..."
She turned her head to the side in anger and opened her eyes, the dull pounding in her head growing louder. "It doesn't matter. I'm leaving tomorrow and we'll part ways permanently. It's for the best anyway, you know that Lyra."
Ignoring her better judgment, she got up from bed quickly and hastily waved her hand, ignoring the blinding pain in her head that was growing stronger. She watched as all her scattered belongings flew into the small opened purse on the wooden table, all except the cauldron, still brewing on the hearth and her large wooden cabinet.
"I'll leave immediately at daybreak tomorrow. Best to get everything prepared."
Her vision started to blur as the pain from her head suddenly exploded. Reaching out towards anything she could find to steady herself on, her hands fell onto the small wooden chair before her and she scrambled to lean her weight against it.
The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on edge as she knew all too well what to follow.
"Not here…" She said through clenched teeth as she scrambled over towards her cauldron.
"It's not ready yet, but maybe it will work! I can't lose control tonight, not when I was so close!"
Her vision started to fade as her hands shakily poured some of the homenum hobis potion into a small glass and brought it unsteadily up to her lips. She felt it slide down her throat and into her stomach, waiting for the relief. But it did not come.
A sharp knife-like pain stabbed up her spine as she dropped the glass on the floor and toppled over towards the wooden cabinet. As she fell into the large oak depository, the doors swung open as vials and glasses jars spilled out from within, falling and smashing onto the hard wooden floor. It lurched and groaned as it slowly tipped over, falling to the floor with a loud crash. Lyra quickly moved out of the way as she tried to control herself, feeling her body sear with pain and clutching at her face. She tried to bite her lip to prevent her from crying out in agony, but it was no use. The world slowly started to fade out of sight and as the last spasm took a hold of her body, she let out a blood curdling scream.
Tom pointed his wand towards the door and flicked it hastily, casting a silent spell and watched as the door flung open. He entered Lyra's chambers cautiously and closed it quickly behind him, not wanting to attract any more attention to them then she already had.
"Muffliato." He whispered as he aimed his wand towards the door to prevent anyone from hearing any other noises that might escape the room.
"Lyra?" he spoke softly as he took another step, the candles were burning low, leaving little light to illuminate the room. His eyes surveyed the damage as they raked over the broken shards of glass and scattered potion ingredients on the floor, finally resting on the wooden cabinet that had toppled and fallen over. He heard a small whimper and held his wand up.
"Lumos."
He saw the outline of her figure huddled in the corner of the room, her breathing slow and ragged.
"Lyra…are you alright? You've woken up half the floor." He spoke gently as he stepped toward her, but paused when he realized what had happened. She had once more transformed into the horrifying creature he had seen in the woods, old, rotting and decrepit. He took a step back as it lifted its head up slowly towards his, its eyes as black as night, it's face more gruesome than that of the foulest corpse.
The ghastly figure stood slowly, Tom heard the sounds of it's bones stiffening and cracking as it straightened it's mangled back, Lyra was gone. The smell of rotting flesh his nose as it raised a clawed and bloody hand towards him, the leathery skin wrinkled and discolored. The creature let out a gurgled scream as it snapped it's jaws and lunged at him.
He jabbed his wand towards the creature quickly as he muttered an incantation to freeze it in place. Looks had deceived him though, and as it dodged his spell he realized it was faster than he anticipated. Moving its attention from Tom, it looked to the small window in the room that Lyra must have opened earlier and bolted towards it in an effort to get away from him.
"It's trying to get away." He thought to himself as he acted quickly.
Aiming his wand towards the window, he shouted "Colloportus!" The window shut and locked itself instantly as he pointed his wand once more at the trapped creature who let out another pitious noise. It focused it's black, ink like eyes on him, enraged, and ran towards where he stood, bloody skeleton-like claws outstretched. He cast a quick hex in its direction and watched as the creature recoiled in pain.
"I must take care not to grievously harm whatever it is, it could harm Lyra in the process. But I wonder..."
As the decrepit figure made its way toward him once more, he quickly murmured another spell and sent it directly at the decomposing mass of flesh and bone.
"Volneratio!"
The wraith-like creature howled in pain as it held it's lacerated arm, trying to stem the wounds that Tom had inflicted upon it.
"I need to end this now." He thought as he recalled what he had done in the woods to end her transformation after they had encountered the wendigo, and focused his wand towards her.
"Somnius!"
She fell to the floor instantly, the ragged breaths and unearthly sounds growing silent in the passing minutes as he watched the creature slowly change. It's white hair turned pitch black, as its skin and features tightened and turned soft, pale and rosy once more, the face familiar and beautiful as Lyra returned to herself and lay unconscious on the ground.
Woof. Took me a while to write this chappie, foremost I hope everyone is safe and sound in their homes and no one reading is sick from this crazy virus infecting the world. Now as to this chapter I did invent a few spells, most of them were derived from Latin, as most of the original spells were. Here's a breakdown of what they mean or where they are derived from:
Pulveo: (derived from pulvis) to grind or to make flour/dust
Volneratio: to wound
Somnius: (derived from somnium) means "to sleep"
Also, to all of those who do not practice magic or are not familiar with witchcraft, there are reasons as to why potions are stirred the way they are, you can look it up online for more fun little detail. Certain potions TRULY are mixed and stirred clockwise, counterclockwise (there are other terms to describe these motions) depending on what you are trying to achieve. I tried to incorporate this to show how difficult and hard it is to actually concoct and create your own potion from scratch and how brilliant Tom would be in deducing how to properly create a potion without injuring or harming himself or his intended subject. Creating and experimenting with new spells and potions is often tricky and dangerous, (lets not forget how Luna Lovegood's mother died) and I don't think Tom would have done anything without analyzing and thinking long and hard beforehand. (INTJ personality, remember!)
As to reviewers, a special thanks to KiraCalico! Thank you for your review and following the story! We'll find out more about Lyra and her dedication to the dark arts later on in this story as to why she needs it, why it motivates her and why she has become the person she has. It's going to be a long story so hang on in there!
As always thank you to everyone for reading, keep reviewing, following and adding it to your favorites list, it all keeps me motivated! Next chapter up soon! xx