Interview with the Slytherin Childe
Part IV: The Teaching of Tom Riddle
A/N: Thanks to Prof. H. J. Potter for the reminder that he enjoys the story. I haven't been too enthused with writing since reading Book 7…
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Harry Potter, the one who would be known only as the Slytherin Childe world-over within a few short weeks, was filling Rita Skeeter's mind, and notepads, with as much information as he could, as quickly as he could.
"…he was, of course, rather displeased at finding himself compelled to do as I told him. That's when he remembered the old Muggle fairy tales about genies. He was the only one who told me I could have but three wishes…"
Rita Skeeter just wrote everything down. In her mind, she was trying to understand all of it. Lord Voldemort – and a thousand year old basilisk – had been this young child's teachers? Holy Merlin, what a terror he was…what a terror he would be for a very long time.
"…so I used his horcrux to banish him temporarily and spent several days talking with Serah the Ancient about how to phrase my wishes. I would play by this Riddle's game – this was before, of course, I had him teach me history and discovered he was the one responsible for my parents' deaths – and, by playing well, beat him. Serah only got to be as old as she was by being as cunning and crafty as she was; an excellent logician, I'd have to say. So my first wish was simply 'I command you to teach me everything you know.'"
Rita wrote that down and underlined it twice. It was rather crafty – and an excellent way to get an almost unlimited number of wishes based upon just a single one.
Harry continued on with his story while Rita continued to ponder the whole scenario. A six year old boy besting Lord Voldemort in a competition of wits – and by listening to a snake. So, if this Slytherin Childe could do such a thing, why hadn't the other Parseltongue done the same?
"Hold up, there. Why didn't this Tom Riddle listen to the basilisk? Why didn't he ask it for help? And, if what you're telling me is true, when he was a student here, it sounds like he found this basilisk and used it to attack people. I remember that Myrtle Pritchard died the year before I started Hogwarts, actually…"
Harry smiled. "What were his words when I asked him the same question? 'I would never learn from a snake! I'm a wizard. I told the bloody beast what to do and ignored everything else, of course…' Later on he learned better with his serpent called Nagini, but by then the basilisk was out of his reach. She's the reason why he wanted to come back and 'teach' at Hogwarts actually – or, at least, that's what he told me."
Rita blinked a couple of times. She felt like her mind was trying to swim through treacle. It just couldn't operate at the speed it normally did. It was all so amazing – and she hadn't been able to use an ounce of invective yet.
"How did you know to do all this? Find this dark artifact? Summon up this ghostly Lord Voldemort?"
Harry frowned a bit here. "I told you. Serah worked with me first after I arrived. Then I discovered the hidden books, which taught me about horcruxes among other things, and I used that knowledge to discover my newest and perhaps most reluctant teacher, Tom Riddle. It's very important that you get all these details correct, Rita. Very important."
From the cold tone of his voice, Rita was very sure about what was important.
"But, I need to understand all this. How can you, at age eleven, command all these spirits? And Dumbledore? And Flamel?"
"And Horace Slughorn and Perenelle Flamel and Bu Li Qin and Ali bin Nebuchadnezzar; or how about Morgana and Merlin, you might know them better by their current names of Gwenog Jones and Persimmon Ollivander, vicious pair of time travelers if you ask me… Fine, if you're so curious about the horcruxes, we'll satisfy that first. But you will have to understand about Tom Riddle and what he taught me. It's vital for the book you're writing…"
Before Rita could inquire any further, Harry was leading Rita on a merry chase through the castle. Up, up they went. Finally the boy stopped in front of a stone gargoyle – the one that protected the Headmaster's office – and he hissed out a password. The gargoyle leapt aside.
Harry walked up the moving revolving staircase and was into the inner chamber before Rita even thought to move. She was surprised beyond movement, beyond questioning.
"This is the temporary home for my most valuable possessions. I keep most of the horcruxes near me at all times, should I need my minions to do my bidding. But, in here, specially warded, I keep the unique volumes I've come across in my horcrux hunting. You see, most people do not just bury their horcrux in a hole in the ground. No, they stash it in a hidden vault or another place of significance. And they keep other valuables there, too. For me, what can be more valuable than knowledge?"
Rita made it to the top of the stairs by the time Harry finished speaking. The view she took in was beyond comprehension. The desk and headmaster portraits were gone; everything she remembered from her days as a student under Dippet and then Dumbledore, it was all different now.
There were three glass cases in the center of the room. And two monstrous basilisks curled up asleep outside the protective wards.
Harry, the young child, walked to the wards enclosing the cases and hissed for a few moments. The wards flickered and then went out.
"I store a collection of the memories of Salazar Slytherin on the lowest shelf, very informative. I didn't learn what a pensieve was until last year, otherwise he could have been my first wizarding teacher. It's a shame more witches and wizards have not thought to store their achievements this way. So much knowledge lost every decade; so very little of it ever recovered. And with intellectual stagnation the way it is in this backward country, well, they can use any help they can get…"
From here, Harry explained the other volumes. "The Potter Family Grimoire, which the goblins parted with under great duress, contains magic that I can't yet perform for the most part. My core isn't yet stable enough, you see. I can cast fire spells with my fire wand and basic memory charms with my mind arts wand, but I can't make much use of the harder spells, you see. That's why I've spent so much time on runic wards…"
Rita looked the volume over when it was handed to her. It was a remarkable piece of work. It was the equivalent of shelves of lesser works on healing, warding (including how the Potter Estates are traditionally warded), defensive magic, stealth magics, theories of spell crafting, the educational plan for a Potter child, and heavy duty offensive magics – all the stuff devised and kept in secret for other Potters to use. It detailed the Potter history, their foundation as solid tradesmen who later branched into spell crafting and more mercenary pursuits. For hundreds of years, contrary to their present reputation, they were gray wizards who track down criminals for bounties, all the while developing spells to make their family craft easier. They'd only been light affiliated for the last hundred years.
Harry had moved on to explain many of the other volumes. "These are the 'lost' grimoires of other familes, mostly extinguished lines. I found them near to where I found horcruxes, you understand. Some powerful magics inside them, some I can already attempt, but nothing as comprehensive or impressive as my family's work…"
Rita tried reaching out for one particularly old volume, but Harry slapped her hand away.
"That one you may not touch. It was one of Merlin's three horcruxes. This work diary, the Codex Avalonia it's referred to as today, but it will possess you unless your soul and mind are strong enough to overcome it. I don't think you'd last a second, Rita…"
"What'd he work on?"
"That? I have several of his work journals, but that one is mostly on time magic and his theories on animagery. He did much of the foundational work on human to animal transfiguration, so it was nice to see his thoughts on self transfiguration as well… Serah the Ancient was most impressed when I read the book to her. She's really quite smart…"
The boy was so casual with the things he said. The marvels of 'lost' magic he'd rediscovered because of his horcrux hunt, staggering.
"However, to answer your question about how I managed to capture the horcrux of Tom Riddle, I need to read a bit from one of these books." He was crouched down near a lower shelf with a row of identically shaped and colored black journals. "Salazar Slytherin didn't go chronologically. He stored his thoughts by topic. Tremendously organized man… He wrote a few volumes on various dark arts and parsel magics he experimented in. He was the first to master animal-based inferi, if I read his notes correctly. He did quite a bit in the black arts, as well, the truly vile stuff such as horcrux creation. But he never made one himself." He looked at the shelf a moment longer. "Here we are. 'Explorations in Immortality.'"
He plucked the volume from the shelf and then began to flip through its pages. Finally Harry stopped and began to read out loud.
"'The Horcruxe has one major flaw which explains why the practice has fallen out of use in recent centuries. It is well known that anyone who captures your Horcruxe, if strong enough to best your will, can command you until the end of days. It matters not whether you be embodied or in spirit form. (Alternately, if someone captures your Horcruxe and loses the battle of will, you may permanently possess that person – or use their life magics to recreate your old body magically. That is what everyone remembers about them, not the downside, not the possibility of losing a battle of will. Be warned!)
"'It is obvious that the tales from ancient Persia of the djinn are actually concerning witches and wizards who have discovered a Horcruxe. Thus, if your Horcruxe falls into your enemy's hand, he may command you, your magic, and everything about you until your enemy chooses to release you. More than one dark spirit has fallen to the will of a stronger witch or wizard because of a poorly hidden Horcruxe. Secrecy only goes so far; goblins can be bribed; family members can betray one another; it's a very risky proposition.
"'A Horcruxe is also only nearly impervious to destruction. Much as it requires a coldblooded murder to create one, it requires the willing sacrifice of a life to destroy one. One who is dying already may also destroy a Horcruxe. The second major problem with Horcruxe magic is that one who has destroyed a single Horcruxe – and somehow survived the experience – may then destroy any other Horcruxe. There have been three reported 'horcruxe hunters' in the last millennium. Little is known of their identities or their level of success in seizing and destroying horcruxes. On the following pages, I list the spells taught me concerning the locating of powerful soul magics such as the horcruxe. It is possible one or more of these 'horcruxe hunters' was initially responsible for the development of these spells.'"
Rita was writing furiously. She'd have to get a hold of a pensieve so she could accurately transcribe all this. She felt like she'd learned more today – albeit, of dark and cruel magics – than she had in a single year at Hogwarts in all her subjects. Being forced to understand by someone who could crush her was quite a motivating factor.
"I hope you understand finally… I used these spells to locate Riddle's horcrux and then I bested him in a battle of will; Slytherin' journal was quite helpful on techniques for winning actually. Now, back to Mr. Riddle and my education…"
Harry was meticulous in describing his tuition: the languages, history, theories of magic he learned; the dark, light, and black magic he studied but was, because of his young age, unable to practice; enchanting of objects, strategy and plotting, and "the name of every Death Eater and supporter this Lord Voldemort had. And his amusement at the imprisonment of a few who hadn't worked for him…"
Harry took her on another jaunt through the school. "Well, I fixed that problem. In this room we have Lucius Malfoy, assassin of countless Muggles, Bellatrix Lestrange, most feared among the Death Eaters, Severus Snape, spy to both sides in the war, Augustus…"
Rita dropped her quill as she looked at the odd sight. It was like a Muggle wax museum, but all of these witches and wizards were real. Real but petrified. This was how Harry Potter stored his prisoners. They'd never be able to escape, not ever.
"And we put a special something into the wards. Anyone carrying in a mandrake or a potion with mandragora in it finds it transformed into an explosive solution. Boom! No more problems with trying to break out my prisoners, you understand."
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The army of horcrux spirits – the cursed djinn – were off on their scheduled tasks. Their master had planned to wait longer before enacting this portion of his plan. However, the use of Muggle bombs at Hogwarts sufficiently annoyed him to start everything earlier.
One contingent of spirits set to cursing the waters flowing in the Thames. It wasn't enough to have the water turn red – Muggles could do that with their dyes – but to turn it into blood: plasma, red cells, white cells, and platelets. Fish and refuse began swimming inside real blood. The contigent even set long lasting charms upon nearby rocks and fences to keep the new water continually transfigured. It took them hours to move the entire length of the Thames to keep performing the spells. But the screams of horror coming from the Muggles nearby were very satisfying.
A smaller contigent made its way into Surrey and began transfiguring hundreds and hundreds of frogs , thousands by the hour. They wanted the place so thick in amphibians that they didn't stop until well past darkness set. The screams here, too, were satisfying.
A large contingent worked its way through Wales casting the Furnunculus Jinx and many other boil-inducing spells at everyone they could find. Up in Argyllshire and Fife, another team was filling the skies with biting flies and gnats, enormous black clouds of them. In Warwickshire, a small team used rotting curses to attack every cow, goat, and sheep they could find. In one afternoon, the entire agricultural production of milk, meat, and cheese was destroyed. And every other part of the United Kingdom felt the desperate licks of thunder, lightning, and hail in the middle of a sunny sky.
The horcrux spirits enjoyed this sort of work. They'd all been dark enough to enjoy causing pain – and they'd all been confined within their horcruxes long enough that they were willing to do anything that would earn them temporary freedom from their imprisonment.
It was a brilliant plan, they said to one another. The master knew what he was doing. Having lived with Muggles for a few years, he remembered how superstitious the lot of them were. So their Master selected actions from their shared religious mythology to confuse and terrify them: the ten plagues of Egypt.
Tomorrow they'd randomly select new locations and plagues to match up. Perhaps the firstborn sons would die tomorrow in this town or that, or maybe an entire county would be hit…
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"…that's all you can absorb for now, Rita. Organize your notes and begin to write. I've left you a dozen vials of memories. Incorporate them into your book somehow. We still have much to discuss."
He locked her inside her room.
She looked at her bulging notebook. She'd have to get another one soon. She also had to develop a plan for smuggling out her notes. She'd never be allowed to keep her finished product, but the notes were just as valuable.
The things she'd seen. The things she'd learned. Rita could be wealthy for the rest of her life just on a few tidbits… But how to do it and survive it?
She began organizing her notes. Rita had some sort of 'book' to write and not a lot of time to do it.
She put quill to parchment and began.
"Harry Potter is the Slytherin Childe. At fifteen months of age, he defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort. At eleven years of age, he conquered Hogwarts Castle and made it his own home and base. It is the years and events between these two that bear deep scrutiny… This reporter has been given unprecedented access to Harry Potter, Slytherin Childe, through a number of exclusive interviews."