Tom impatiently sat through Herbology, ostensibly listening to a lecture on Fanged Geraniums while really just waiting for the class to be over. After Herbology was lunch, a free half hour in which he could go visit the Chamber of Secrets. He needed to eliminate that girl before she did him any damage.

When the bell finally rang, Tom was never more grateful for it. He was the first one out of the greenhouse, and on the castle steps when Seline grabbed his arm.

"What's going on?" she asked fiercely.

"Nothing," he lied, not meeting her eyes.

"You haven't been in the library for weeks! You're always rushing out of every class! We haven't even had a normal conversation in weeks! This isn't nothing!"

"Seline, listen-"

"No," she said angrily. "You listen to me. I thought we were best friends?"

"We are, but-"

"So you're supposed to talk to your friends! That's what they're for - to help you with your problems! What kind of best friends are we if you can't even talk to me?"

"There's just - something - I have to finish, okay?"

"Fine," she snarled. "But I'm going to find out what this 'something' is, with or without your help." She stalked off, leaving Tom momentarily stunned.

Tom skulked outside the Great Hall, hidden behind a suit of armor. Lunch was halfway over when Myrtle ran out of the Great Hall in tears. Tom followed her, making sure to stay in the shadows, up to the second floor girls' bathroom.

The noise of the secret tunnel opening was drowned out by Myrtle's sobs. Tom looked at her stall door as the basilisk slithered up from the depths.

"Kill the girl," he hissed.

"Why are you in the girls' bathroom? Go use your own toilet," said Myrtle, her blotchy face poking out of the stall door.

The basilisk stared at her, yellow eyes fixed on brown. Myrtle crumpled like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

Just then, the bathroom door flew open and Seline came in, looking triumphant.

"I told you I would find out," she said, sealing the door with a wave of her wand. "Now - what the..."

She stared at the snake for a minute. An expression that was equal parts shock and excitement spread over her face as comprehension dawned. "You were the Heir of Slytherin? You were the one that's been Petrifying the Mudbloods?"

At the sound of her voice, the basilisk turned.

"No!" screamed Tom.

Seline shot a Stunning spell at the basilisk. It froze, but not before sinking a poisonous fang into Seline's arm. Deep red blood splattered all over the room, quickly soaking Seline's robes, and she fell to the ground.

"GO!" hissed Tom furiously at the basilisk before turning back to Seline. Her face was deathly white, and her breath came out in rattling gasps.

"No, no, you're not dying, no, please, no..."

"There's no healing now," she whispered. "It's okay, Tom. Now you'll be the top student." She made a brave attempt at a smile.

"I'm so sorry..."

"Be great, Tom." She raised a hand to touch his face. "I know you will..."

She closed her eyes for the last time, those green eyes that had captivated him in Charms two years ago.

Tom trembled from hand to foot, staring at what once was his best friend. His hands shaking, he performed the excruciating magic that would help him avoid her fate, encasing the fragment of his soul in the small black diary that he kept in his pocket constantly.

"I will be great," he said aloud to the death-filled room. "I will be the greatest sorcerer there ever was."

Only then did he realize that his face was wet. He looked in the mirror and saw that he was crying.

Tom Riddle was never the same after that day. After Seline's death, he never could bring himself to feel affection for anyone else. As far as he was concerned, love was not worth the heartbreak. That day was both a beginning and an end - the beginning of his journey toward immortality, and the end of his ability to care.