What You Never Knew
Tom Marvolo Riddle: The Teacher
1. He could remember the day he was born.
He also presumed he was the only person who could do so. And yet, he remembered everything in perfect detail. The weather outside was dark and gloomy; lightning flashed, thunder roared, rain poured during by the tons. He remembered soft, pale hands pulling him out of a dark, wet place (that he learned about later in life) and hurriedly drying him off with a fluffy towel. He had been wrapped in the towel, and had finally let out an earsplitting cry. He felt the woman holding him breathe a sigh of relief as she rocked him back and forth, his head tucked in the crook of her arm. The woman had then walked over to another woman- this one with lank, brown hair- on a bed, who was lying perfectly still with yet another woman by her side- this one with grey hair. The grey hair lady had had tears in her eyes, and instructed that he was to be named Tom Marvolo Riddle. And so he was.
2. He had a friend- a true one- once.
She was a year older than him, and for his first year of life, they spent nearly all of their time playing together. He heard Mrs. Cole talking about her once; the orphanage director called the girl "Minnie". Only when Tom arrived at Hogwarts did he realize that "Minnie" went by "Minerva McGonagall", and that Minerva had no idea whatsoever that they had once been best friends. And- for some strange reason- that hurt. So he closed off his heart from everyone else, because he hated pain.
3. When he was five years old, he killed someone.
He hadn't meant to. She was a volunteer in the orphanage, and she had spent a whole hour coddling him, telling him, "Aww, aren't you just the cutest thing? Cute wittle Tommy!" When she had finally left, she fell down the staircase, hit her head, and never opened her eyes again. Nobody accused Tom of anything- he had been in his room, after all. Nonetheless, deep down, he knew he had done it.
4. He had a grudge against the Sorting Hat.
When he had been Sorted, that blasted hat had teased him. Him! Tom Marvolo Riddle! This was unacceptable in Tom's book- nothing was allowed to tease him. In fact, nothing was allowed to even breathe a word to him unless given his express permission! And so, sixty years later, surrounded by his Death Eater followers as well as the Hogwartians of that era, he had taken advantage of his opportunity to punish Neville Longbottom, and had used it to punish that ruddy hat as well.
5. Albus Dumbledore was his favorite teacher.
Yes, Tom later hated Albus, with every fiber of his being; but during his school days, Dumbledore was the only teacher he respected. Dumbledore was the one teacher who didn't believe him automatically, who actually challenged him, who could see right through him. For that, Albus Dumbledore was his favorite, and most respected, teacher. Later in life, looking back on his schooldays, Tom saw that he should've known that Albus would someday oppose him all along.
6. His first "friend" was Scelero Lestrange.
They had met at the Slytherin House table, during their first feast- for both of them.
"Hello. What might your name be?" Tom turned from his plate of food to see a boy around his age sticking out his hand expectantly. The boy had slicked back black hair, sharp black eyes, and a cunning smirk; surveying him, Tom deemed him worthy of his company.
"Tom Riddle," Tom replied, firmly shaking the boy's hand. "And you are…?"
"Scelero Lestrange," the boy told him, sitting up a little straighter as he said it. Clearly, he was proud of his heritage. "I don't recognize your last name, Riddle… what blood do you have?"
"Excuse me?"
"You know- are you a pureblood, a half-blood, or a Mudblood?" Scelero asked haughtily. "I do hope you're pureblood."
"Of course I am!" Tom exclaimed indignantly, as if insulted that his blood could have ever been doubted; when in reality, he had no idea what type of blood he had. Obviously, though, it was important to be pureblood; so, he would act as if he was.
Scelero smiled. "Good. That means we can hang out."
"Yes. I would hate to be seen associated with a Mudblood," Tom stated, feigning a shudder as he vowed to figure out what all these terms meant later. Scelero seemed to be pleased again.
"I couldn't agree more, Tom. Pass the peas, will you?"
"Of course."
7. He first started hating Mudbloods when he learned what the term meant.
In the beginning, he thought that the way some students- called "Mudbloods" by his Slytherin peers- were teased was rather cruel. Then he learned that a "Mudblood" was born from non-magical, or Muggle, parents, and he could see why they should be exterminated. He had grown up with Muggles, and not a single one had ever treated him kindly or with respect. In fact, most of them had been downright evil to him. Why would any other Muggles be different? They were all the same- filthy, evil animals who didn't deserve to live. So Tom became the ringleader of the Mudblood-haters; a position that lasted for the rest of his life.
8. Nagini was his only real friend.
Some of his followers would claim to be, he was sure- and he might even allow Scelero the honor of saying that. But Nagini was the only one who had stuck with him through everything. He remembered when he found her- or, more accurately, when she found him.
Tom was seventeen years old, and was spending his last summer at that dratted orphanage. He had decided to join the other children on the trip to the nearby village; it was near that wonderful, memorable cave, and Tom would enjoy one more trip to the cave where he had tortured so many pitiful children.
When the group went to the village, Tom snuck away by himself to go visit the cave. He sat down on a damp rock inside, gazing fondly around- there was a splatter of blood on a stone from Amy Benson that he was quite proud of, there was the rock that created a permanent scar in Dennis Bishop's fragile little arm, there was-
A snake. A deep green, scaly, marvelously large snake coming straight towards him. Tom smirked as the snake hissed, "Who daresssssss disssssturb my cave?"
"It is I," Tom hissed back in the language he now knew was called Parseltongue. "Pardon me, snake. I did not know you lived here."
"How do you sssspeak my language?" the snake asked Tom, slithering in circles around his feet.
"Salazar Slytherin, the great wizard, is my ancestor. Do you know of him?"
"Yesssss, SSSSSlytherin isssss well known amongst us ssssnakes. Any dessscendant of hissss isss welcome here. What isssss your name, Heir of SSSSlytherin?"
"Tom Marvolo Riddle. And yours, snake?"
"I am Nagini."
Tom thought for a moment before asking Nagini, "Would you like to come with me, Nagini?"
Nagini hissed angrily, "I will not be reduccced to that of a housssse pet! I am not that shameful!"
Tom smiled; that had been exactly the response he had been hoping for. "Oh, but Nagini, you would be no house pet; you are much too good for that. You would be my ally; to use a Mudblood phrase, my partner-in-crime. No snake deserves to be domesticated. Snakes are too good for that."
Nagini was silent for a moment before she slithered up Tom's leg, up his torso, under his arm, and ending around his neck, as if she was a scarf draped there. "If you dare treat me below what I desssssssserve, Tom Marvolo Riddle, I will kill you."
"Spoken like a true snake," Tom complimented, standing up and preparing to make his way back to the orphanage group.
He couldn't want to see their pathetic, frightened faces.
9. He recognized Harry Potter's eyes.
No, he did not see Lily Potter's eyes; he saw the eyes of another woman. He did not know her name, her occupation, or anything of that sort; he had needed to kill someone to turn Slytherin's locket into a Horcrux, and had come upon the Muggle woman. She had stared at him with large, frightened green eyes, somehow knowing that he was going to kill her. He had done just as she expected, and then gone on his not-so-merry way. Only when he looked into Harry Potter's eyes did he realize that the Muggle woman he had murdered so many years earlier had been the boy's maternal grandmother.
10. Regulus Black had been his favorite Death Eater.
He had been efficient, loyal, and skilled; not to mention, he hosted a healthy amount of skepticism. When Regulus disappeared, Tom merely assumed that he had died doing his mission (which was to track down and kill his brother, Sirius), like the best Death Eaters did. Because Regulus was the best Death Eater. He never found out that Regulus had betrayed him- if he had, then his fury would have been enough to shake the world. Tom Riddle hated being disobeyed- it was a sign of not being in total control, of not being as powerful as he could be. Being powerful and in control were the bases of Tom's beliefs.
Tom Marvolo Riddle was, once upon a time, a fairly normal boy. Over time, however, he met new people, was introduced to a whole new world, and discovered what exactly made him so different- and how he could use his differences to his advantage. Most of all, though, he learned. He learned about his heritage, and what came along with it; he learned the truth about the Wizarding World; he learned that, among his "friends", Muggles were swine, and learned to agree with this opinion; he learned that he could conquer death, that it wasn't as impossible as everyone said; he learned that in order to rule, a dictatorship was the best method- providing that he was the dictator- and that whoever wasn't a pureblood deserved to be killed. He taught beliefs and magic to himself, as well as to others, just as much as he learned things. And so, Tom Marvolo Riddle was as much a teacher as he was the greatest Dark Wizard of all time.
I don't much like this chapter. What do you think? Please review! I still need three before I update again!
-Joelle8