** I do not own the rights to Harry Potter, the names and original ideas belongs to J.K Rowling.**

Chapter 5

"What if you could live forever...", Tom muttered to himself, "what if you could live in all eternity without dying from being wounded or growing old..". He was lost in his own thought and did not pay attention to the other Slytherin-students sitting around the table. Never would he recognize them as friends, or even equals, they were not his allies.

The closest to friendship between the young men sitting next to Tom was the servant-like services they so blindly performed on his behalf. They were his dogs and he was their master in the truest form of ownership there was. Their feelings would never matter to him, only himself and his own feelings were important, they were nothing but bricks that could be easily disposed of.

"No such thing as living forever", a blonde boy said very matter-of-factly, "unless your name is Nicholas Flamel, that is".

Tom did not pay the boy any attention as he suddenly rose to his feet, and walked out of the library, followed closely by his most passionate servants. There was something about Tom Riddle that made other students unwilling to approach him. An aura that radiated cruelty and malice, simultaneously his charms ensnared each and every one of them, it drew them closer to him than they wanted to be.

The young man, followed by his soldiers, marched towards the dungeons, where the Slytherin common-room was located, however, it was not the warmth of the common-room that lead them there.

Tom knew there was a way to live forever. Not only to live but to go through time unharmed and without aging. This one way was the only thought occupying his mind at the moment, and the only thing he could not read about in any of the books in the library. He was certain that Professor Dumbledore knew, but it was not Professor Dumbledore he was heading towards.

There was another teacher at Hogwarts who would know, one who was not suspicious of him, one who had already trusted him with many secrets that the students should be unaware. This was the man Tom wished to see, wished to speak to, wished to lure into telling him about the dark secrets behind immortality.

The heavy dungeon-door was opened by a pudgy wizard. He was eating and a little piece of pumpkin-pie was stuck in his large moustache. Clumsily, he wiped it off and finished chewing the piece, while looking at the group in front of him. Once he had swallowed the pie, he gave out a silent burp and finally spoke.

"What can I do for you today, Mr Riddle?", he asked.
"Well, Professor Slughorn", he started, "I was just wandering around and decided to pay you a visit". His charm was as radiant as ever and even the professor could not withdraw from it. Professor Slughorn opened his door further and showed the boys inside where they all sat down by a table as Slughorn poured each of them a cup of Butterbeer.

"So, Tom, what is on your mind, my dear boy?", Slughorn asked while he positioned himself in the chair.
"The usual, O. and such.", Tom replied while looking away from the company. The tone of his voice implied that something as simple as exams and tests were of absolutely no worries to the young man.
Instead of askin Tom more questions Professor Slughorn turned to the other Slytherin-boys who were much more obliged to keep a conversation going. During this time Tom carefully thought of how to approach the Professor with the matter that was on his mind, so that he could finally ask once the boys got up to leave.

"Oh, you're leaving already?", Slughorn asked a little inebriated.

The boys said their goodbyes before exiting through the door, all except Tom who lingered at the door before he finally shut it, while still in the room. He stared at the fire to his right, and he watched the green flames turn into silvery smoke that slithered up into the chimney. It took a minute or two before the Professor turned around to find his student still in his study.

"You're still here, Tom?" he asked, curious as to what was lurking behind those dark eyes. He put the lid back on to the karaff and turned his body towards the boy.

Tom was still looking at the flames and was now standing no more than two feet away from it when he gave out a sigh. He could hear the fire give out small cracks as it devoured the wood, and feel the small changes in the wind as the smoke moved the air around, but most intensely could he feel the heat against his skin as the flames reached out for more oxygen.

"Yes, excuse me Professor but I have a question".
"Of course, my dear boy, of course", Slughorn said, "what is troubling you?".

Tom moved away from the fire, towards Professor Slughorn, and stopped a few feet away, still gazing towards the emerald flames.

"I was wondering about something I read the other day, in a book from the Restricted Section in the library...", he began, "it was something about a rare piece of magic". At this last remark, he turned his eyes from the fireplace directly to the Professor, waiting for Slughorn to reply.

"What kind of magic, Tom?".

"I can't remember exactly, but it was something called a Horcrux", Tom replied firmly.

At the word Horcrux, Slughorn's entire posture changed and there was a sense of uneasiness in his movements. He started to move around the cups and the bottle of Butterbeer and put it on a tray next to the table. He did not even look at Tom while doing all this, until he ran out of things to put away, then he spoke once more.

"This is really dark magic, Tom, I can't possible understand why you would want to know anything about Horcruxes. Vile magic, that is, vile".

Slughorn's voice was raised and his eyebrows slanted in an expression mixed with anger and fear, and the only thing he could do was to wait for the response, and hopefully the real issue behind this question. It was, after all, the wish of every teacher at Hogwarts that each and every student learned as much as they could during their time there. However, dark magic such as this was in no way acceptable at Hogwarts; not to perform neither to learn, and that was why Slughorn was afraid.

"Well, see I was reading about it and I did not really understand it", Tom began slowly, "I didn't quite understand the part of making one".

Slughorn's face was broken, it was as if all the color was washed away and all the joy that he was always filled with was vanished. For a minute he looked at the fire that was now calm and nothing but glow and black pieces of coal, and wondered whether or not he should tell him. This was after all extraordinary magic, ancient magic, an important part of their history. On the other hand it was cruel and despicable; it was the ultimate crime to perform such an act and it was nothing that he wanted to inspire anyone, less than anyone a student.

"Tom, you need to understand that this is very dark magic, very dark indeed, and...this is all hypothetical, right?", He was now looking straight into Tom's eyes as if to try to understand the boy, reach in to his mind to see if there were any intentions on his mind.

Tom had been standing quietly beside the fire, looking at nothing but Slughorn, and now he was standing straight up, something inside him had woken up now when he could sense the answers to his questions. This was the moment he had been waiting for and right now nothing was more important than the answers he needed.

"Of course, Professor, it's all hypothetical". Tom had his gaze focused in Slughorn, nothing else had ever been and would never be as important as this moment. During all this he kept his evil charm and calm, and showed absolutely nothing of the chaos and excitement he felt.

Slughorn sat down in his chair and looked down on his hands; he had made up his mind.

"To create a Horcrux one must perform a horrible act of cruelty", Slughorn said. It took a few seconds before Tom replied. His pulse was pumping blood faster through his veins than it had ever done before and he could feel the warmth as new blood rushed around in every part of his body. He knew he had to calm himself down before asking his final question or Slughorn would be able to tell that he was anticipating this moment with every particle of his body. When he could finally feel his pulse slow down he opened his mouth and asked the question to which he suspected he already knew the answer.

"What act?".

Slughorn kept his gaze on his hands and the table below him, the man felt conquered and knew with everything in him that this was not the right decision. Despite all this, he wanted to tell him, he could not resist neither did he want to. He lifted his head and looked at Tom with his green eyes as he told the young student the truth.

"Murder".