PART 2

(BEFORE: 1992-1993)

Tom's school year had gone swimmingly; he was top of the class (shocker) and he had been able to open the Chamber of Secrets. The Basilisk was a great companion – their conversations together were far more engaging than any of the ones he had had with his classmates. And while the Basilisk had been able to possess a first year – that Weasley girl – to do its bidding and help with the blood writing, it had gone too far when it had paralyzed so many students, including (much to his chagrin) Hermione.

He had been there on the night she came in. Tom had kept up his façade of helpful student by helping Madame Pomfrey in the infirmary, and he was stocking the medicine shelves after Hermione had been brought in when he overheard Madame Pomfrey gossiping with someone over tea.

"Whatever was she doing in the library?"

"I thought she was studying, as per usual. She spends more time in there than I do. But then they found that paper in her hand." It was Madame Pince; Tom recognized the high-pitched screech of her voice.

"What did it say?"

"We don't know. It's wrapped up in her palm. We don't know where it came from either – I would have been alerted if a page were ripped out of a school book."

"How could she have gotten it then?"

"I don't know." In a much lower tone, Pince hissed, "I suspect that someone on the inside knew what was going on and planted it for her."

"Probably another Slytherin, seeing as how the messages around the school have been against muggleborns."

"Nasty lot, those Slytherins."

"Not all of them," Pomfrey dismissed, "Tom Riddle is the nicest young man in this school."

Madame Pince snorted at this. "If you saw what he read in the library, you'd think otherwise. He does extensive research on the dark arts."

"Maybe he wants to become an auror; I doubt there's any foul play there, Irma. But how was she paralyzed?"

"You know how they found that mirror on her? Well, Hermione's not the kind of girl who is concerned with beauty – my guess is that she was might have been trying to lure out whatever it is that is attacking the children."

"Oh, because it's all based on reflections!" Tom nearly dropped the glass in his hands – how could his intricate plan have shattered so quickly, and all because of one girl!

"Well, you know the Ministry wants to shut the school down now." Tom had begun to panic –he wasn't prepared the only home he'd ever known for the sake of purging the Wizarding race; that could wait.

"Oh, Dumbledore won't let that happen."

"No, but they can remove him from his post."

"That's horrible!" In his mind, he had already begun to formulate a plan. He would command the Basilisk to sleep and then frame the Groundskeeper, Hagrid.

But just at that moment, Professor Slughorn barged into the infirmary. "Poppy, Irma, come quickly. We're having an emergency staff meeting about this thing. Professor Lockhart has offered to investigate the matter."

Madame Pince sighed, "He's an idiot and a phony. I don't have any idea why the school even hired him. They really should have hired that Lupin boy instead."

"You know they couldn't do that – not with his condition." The three left the room in a hurry. Tom had popped his head out of the supply closet when it suddenly dawned on him that he would have to find a way to stop the Basilisk before things spiraled out of control and Lockhart tried to find the Chamber of Secrets. All his hard work seemed to have been for nothing at this point, and he had to contain his rage as he stormed off to the girls' bathroom to go down to the Chamber.

X*X*X

For an ancient creature, the Basilisk had understood of the situation. She knew that his life and hers would both be at risk if the attacks continued, and she was willing to go to sleep a little while longer if it meant she could keep her head.

He came back upstairs an hour later, but anger still boiled in his veins. He snuck back into the hospital to grab his bag when he spotted Hermione. Creeping towards her bed, he glared down at her with murder in his eyes.

He spoke in a voice barely above silence. "I ought to kill you. You've ruined everything for me." But as he wrapped a hand around her icy neck, the anger in his heart melted. Her mouth was set up in a little 'o' and her eyes were wide with fear. She looks just like she did then, he remembered, recalling a younger version of her he had rescued in the caves. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

"You've ruined everything for me," he repeats. His hand falls from her neck as he collapses onto the stool next to her bed. "You have no idea; no one does!" He covered his face with his hands. "They don't understand what it's like to know what the first thing you did on this Earth was to kill your mother!

"I didn't mean to do it. The again, I don't know whether I really did or not; I was only a few minutes old. And then to be told by everyone that I was nobody and that I would amount to nothing…it makes you bitter. It made me angry. Because I knew! I knew I was different and that I was special, and that they were too blind to see it!" He paused for a moment to regain his composure.

"But here they knew. They understood that I was meant for great things. I had power, I had respect . . . but still I felt something was missing. How can one be the king if they don't have their crown? And I thought by opening the Chamber of Secrets and proving I'm Salazar's heir that it would . . . Well, it doesn't matter what would happen now, does it? I nearly shut down the school – the only place I can think of as a home; the only place where people think I have value."

He paused to clamp the bridge of his nose and regain his calm façade. "This is only a detour in my plans. The battle is lost but the war is still on the horizon. I'm going to continue Salazar's work and prove I am worthy of being the Heir. I have to. Because my mother was a squib who tainted our bloodline with muggle blood. And now I have to clean it up."

"I told you once that I hated my name, and now I have even more reason to. My father is also Tom Riddle, which makes me 'junior'. And what makes it worse is that I have tried to contact him, and he refuses to acknowledge my existence. He's known about me this whole time, and still he will not take ownership!" Tom was near his breaking point. "It's one thing to have strangers ignore you, but your own father-!" He slammed his fist down on the bed. "He could have prevented all of my psychopathic tendencies and the trauma by just claiming me. Even living in the closet and working as a servant for scraps on the table would have been better than the childhood I went through!"

He clasped his shaking hands and forced himself to breathe deeply. "But he'll pay. He and his stupid mother and father too. They'll pay the price for what they've done to me!" With revived fervor, Tom rose from the stool and began to walk away before he turned back and addressed Hermione one more time.

"Don't think you're safe, Hermione. Just because the Basilisk is gone doesn't mean there's danger out there. Maybe not now, but one day, you'll suffer the consequences of forcing me to close the Chamber." He examined her closely, titling his head. "It's a pity you're a muggle-born; supposedly you're the top of your class. If only you were worthy of my presence, I would have told you all that while you were conscious." And with that, Tom strolled out of the hospital.

What he didn't know was that Hermione had very much been conscious. The Basilisk may have physically paralyzed her, but mentally she was whirling. And in her frozen state, Hermione felt a flame of panic burning in her heart.

X*X*X

As soon as Hermione was unfrozen, she dashed off to Dumbledore's office. He was in a meeting with some of the other faculty when she burst into the room.

"Sir, I need to talk to you." Dumbledore shooed away his staff and made sure they had all left before letting her speak.

"What is it, my child?"

"It's about Tom Riddle, sir…"