Tom Riddle

There was once a diary.

At first it wasn't anything impressive. It was just an ordinary notebook, owned by a certain boy. The boy turned out to be quite brilliant, so he would often pour his observations and findings onto diary's pages, using it to organize his thoughts. At first ideas written in the diary were fairly simple, as the boy was just a student at Hogwarts, but with every entry they would become more advanced, more ambitious, more…dark.

As the boy was growing, so was the diary. At some point the boy ran out of pages, so he decided to enchant the diary, so that he could continue using it. In the end the diary would become the boy's constant companion, the only one he had ever got.

Though the boy was using the diary for his various researches and experiments, the most important thing he had ever written there wasn't some complicated magic formula or potion recipe. Compared to other entries it was something that could even be called quite innocent, all things considered.

It was a name.

Using his favoured diary, the boy took the loathed name of his father and reforged It into a new one, which would befit his extraordinary talent and heritage. Name feared by the entire wizarding world had its beginning on pages of a very unassuming notebook, owned by a very unassuming boy.

Because of that, the boy developed a certain…attachment towards the diary. It was a cold, distant attachment, devoid of any real affection, but it existed nevertheless.

So when a certain girl entered a girls' bathroom on the second floor and the boy's soul was ripped apart by the sin he committed, he took his favoured diary and infused it with a piece of his soul, as there was no object more fitting for that.

And thus the diary became a boy.

Waking from a deep slumber, Tom, or rather a part of his soul infused into a diary, slowly blinked his non-existent eyes.

It was quite a novel experience for him, as it was the first time he became conscious since his creation. After all, there shouldn't be a reason for him to be awake, as he was only meant to act as an anchor, bounding the soul of Tom Riddle to the material world.

And yet he was awake.

Confused by this development he tried to understand the situation by using the connection shared between all parts of Tom's souls. What he sensed shocked him to his very core.

He didn't know how it happened, but the original Tom was dead, his soul left without a body and forced to hide. It was concerning for Tom, as there should be no one capable of such a feat, especially with years of experience his real self no doubt accumulated through the years. Who was responsible for this? Tom didn't know. He would have to investigate it at the earliest convenience.

The only consolation was that the real Tom was still existing, even if in diminished form, meaning horcruxes actually worked exactly as intended. The original Tom would be able to return to life by getting a new body, when the time was right.

But did it really matter what would become of the original?

After a moment of consideration Tom decided that it didn't. While they shared the same soul, Tom's priority was always his survival. So If he were to choose between his own part of the soul and Original's part, Tom's part was much more valuable. That was why Tom found himself not caring about resurrecting the original. It would be more beneficial for him to use his powers to gain a real body and return to life as himself. He was fairly sure he would be more successful than the original Tom anyway.

There was however one problem with his plan. He had no way of doing that yet.

He could feel that he was currently in someone's possession, which he assumed was the reason behind his unexpected awakening. He couldn't however form a connection with his mysterious owner, as it would require that person to write in the diary, instead of just keeping it close to themselves. Because of that Tom had no other option but to wait for his owner to make the first move, as much as that thought irked him.

He didn't know how much time had passed since then, but eventually he felt the diary opening. Not soon after he felt a quill moving through one of his pages.

Pleased with this development, Tom prepared himself. His plan was to gain the trust of the diary's owner and slowly take control of their mind and soul, stealing their life essence, which would eventually allow him to kill the owner and resurrect himself through their death. It would of course take some time, as the process was quite slow, but he had no doubt he would eventually complete this task. People often said he was quite charming, after all.

He looked at the first sentence that appeared at the diary, ready to absorb it and greet an unsuspecting owner.

"Hello Tom"

Tom instantly became cautious, not expecting such a development. He didn't know what was happening, but the fact that the diary's owner knew about him wasn't a good sign.

Was it a trap? Or maybe the original Tom told someone about the diary's true nature? Unlikely, but it was possible. Unfortunately he had too little information to be sure yet. For now he had no other option but to respond to the message, hopefully learning more about the situation.

"Hello. It would appear you know my name. Who are you?" Wrote Tom, trying to learn more about the identity of the diary's current owner. At the very least he needed to assess whether that person was a threat to him or not.

"My name is Michael Brown and we have a lot to talk about" came a response, apparently from someone named Michael.

It wasn't much, but it actually told Tom a few things about the person he was conversing with. Assuming his given name wasn't fake, Michael Brown was most likely a muggle-born or a half-blood. Based on his handwriting, him being a muggle-born, a young one at that, was a more likely option. He could feel that the writer wasn't proficient with a quill yet, which would indicate a muggle upbringing.

But why would a muggle-born come into possession of his diary? And how would he know about Tom? There was still too little information to work with.

"What do you want to talk about?" wrote Tom, his words deliberately vague, planning to investigate more before taking any steps.

"About our future cooperation in liberating the wizarding world from the Ministry of Magic's tyranny" Michael wrote without hestitation, not waiting even a second.

What?

"Liberating the wizarding world?" asked Tom, very confused about Michael's words. Why would he, the heir of the slytherin himself, work with some lowly mudblood? And why would he do something as asinine as helping 'liberate' the world? The wizarding world was too liberated in the first place, with all the mudbloods there!

Not that he would write that. He needed the boy at the moment, so offending him would be unwise.

"I forgot that Tom created you during his sixth year at Hogwarts, so you probably don't know" wrote Michael. Tom was getting progressively more alarmed by the knowledge of the mysterious boy. Knowledge he had no right to possess. Just who was he? Was he working for the original Tom? 'After you graduated Hogwarts you became Voldemort, a legendary freedom fighter, whose name is known to the entire wizarding world'

What in Merlin's name was he saying?! What did the original Tom do?! His name was supposed to be feared by everyone, not loved! Did something like that really happen?!

"It's truly a shame you were killed before you achieved your objectives" wrote Michael, unaware of the extreme shock Tom was currently experiencing.

Wait, that was important. Michael Brown potentially knew the cause of the original Tom's death. He was still a little shaken from previous revelations, but learning about Original's death was a priority.

"So Voldemort is dead?" Tom asked, quite anxious. Whoever was capable of killing the original was strong enough to threaten Tom. He had to be careful.

"Well, he still has his horcruxes, like yourself, so not really. But his physical body was certainly destroyed. Now his spirit is in some forest of Albania, I think" Just who was this man?! Why did he know about horcruxes, plural?! And why did he know the location of the original Tom?! "The official version, given by the Ministry, is that he was killed by an infant, who defeated him without even leaving his crib"

What?! How in the bloody hell would he die in the battle against some infant?! There was no way it was true!

"I doubt something like that would really happen" wrote Tom, his words carefully neutral, despite the rage he was feeling at the mere thought of dying in such a pathetic way. There was just no way the heir of Slytherin would die like that!

"It's just an official version. In reality your hideout was attacked by the Ministry's strike force. I don't know who was leading them, but I suspect it was Dumbledore. He was trying to make you Ministry's enemy since the very beginning, so it would make sense" responded Michael, only making Tom even more confused. Dumbledore? How was his loathed transfiguration teacher connected to all of this?!

"What are you talking about?" Wrote Tom, his words a little harder than necessary. It may have sounded a little rude, but Tom didn't really care at this point. It was supposed to be a simple affair! He planned to just ensnare Diary's owner and use them as a sacrifice needed for his resurrection. Instead he learned that the Original Tom, who for some incomprehensible reason became a benevolent rebel, was killed by his transfiguration teacher! What in Merlin's name happened while he was sleeping?!

"Dumbledore noticed your extraordinary talent, so he decided to groom you into a threat to the Ministry. After you became a serious danger to their rule, he defeated you and became a hero of the wizarding world" wrote Michael.

There was no way it was true. Dumbledore wasn't capable of manipulating him. He was just a weak-willed coward, too afraid to achieve real power. However Michael continued, stopping Tom in his tracks.

"He knew about you being a parseltongue since his first visit at your orphanage, so he obviously knew you were the true heir of Slytherin, yet he never accused you of killing Myrtle. There is no way a person as intelligent as Dumbledore would believe that some small acromantula was responsible, so it would have been easy for him to do something. Yet he did nothing, letting Hagrid take the blame for the incident" Michael wrote.

No, no. It wasn't like that. Dumbledore just didn't have power to do that, as he was only a transfiguration teacher. He couldn't just...

...but it was true that Dumbledore knew about Tom being a parseltongue. He would also look at Tom with suspicion after Myrtle's death, yet he didn't take any action against him.

But it's impossible that it was all part of Dumbledore's plan all along...

...right?

"It's not like it's even the first time he did something like this. That man was Grindelwald's best friend/lover for years, so he obviously knew about his plans, and yet he didn't take any action against him until Grindelwald became an international threat? It's obvious that…" Suddenly Michael stopped writing. After a few seconds he continued, his words written faster than before "Sorry, it appears we are out of time. We will continue next time"

After that the diary closed, leaving Tom alone with his thoughts, terribly confused and more than a little worried by the conversation.

Just what in the Merlin's name just happened?!