Tom Riddle
He felt ... cold.
While this wouldn't be unusual for most people, for Tom it was quite a new yet strangely familiar sensation, which certainly made sense given the circumstances. Although he had memories of the original Tom feeling cold, this was the first time he had experienced it himself. It was certainly an unpleasant and uncomfortable feeling, though surprisingly he didn't exactly dislike it. Experiencing It made him feel…alive.
And he was alive. Not as before, a cursed memory clinging to a diary, but alive in the truest sense of the word. Tom felt his heart beating in his chest and blood flowing through his veins. With his eyes he registered different colors, and with his ears he heard the sound of water flowing through the chamber. All this meant one thing. Tom was a human, with all that entailed. The diary he held in his hand, once a powerful and dangerous artifact of dark magic, was now a mere notebook, significant only for its former importance. After decades of imprisonment, he was finally free.
The price for said freedom was incredibly small, all things considered: just a life of one egocentric fraud. Tom turned his head toward the center of the chamber, looking at the man who had made it all possible. Gilderoy Lockhart, or at least the soulless husk that remained of him, was currently lying in the middle of the chamber, staring at the stone ceiling with empty, lifeless eyes. He was covered in various wounds and injuries, all of which formed a pool of blood around him, giving the impression of some kind of ritual sacrifice that had taken place there. Which, Tom mused while looking at his diary, wouldn't be entirely wrong.
He supposed he should feel gratitude towards the man. After all, not only was he an excellent host, but it was his sacrifice that allowed Tom to obtain the corporeal form he so desperately desired.
When he was separated from Michael and picked by Lockhart, he was understandably suspicious. After all, why wouldn't he be? Not only was he found by a teacher, but the said teacher, who was competent enough to be hired at Hogwarts, was somehow unable to identify an obviously dark artifact? It was all too convenient to be true. However, he quickly learned that Lockhart was a man capable of subverting all expectations. Tom still wasn't quite sure how it was possible for a person to be so weak-willed that he was able to take full control over them in less than a week! He expected some resistance, a struggle, but nothing like that happened. He was frankly baffled by the speed at which he was able to dominate Lockhart.
Then again, he supposed that Lockhart's mental feebleness was partly Michael's fault. The boy was strangely interested in harassing Lockhart, taking every possible opportunity to shatter the man's ego and consequently push him deeper into Tom's clutches with his actions. Tom had no concrete evidence, but his conversations with Michael, as well as his browsing through the boy's memories, led him to believe that Michael was some sort of seer, even if the exact nature of his abilities was yet unknown to him. If that was the case, he wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that Michael was trying to subtly help him by bullying Lockhart.
Was it all part of Michael's plan? To break Lockhart and serve him to Tom as a vessel? It was impossible to be sure with Michael. The boy's seemingly random actions often tended to benefit Michael in some way, even if there was no indication that they should.
Regardless of Michael's intentions, however, Tom was grateful because acquiring Lockhart allowed him to understand the sheer depths of the wizarding world's depravity and take the first steps toward changing this broken world they lived in.
Through Lockhart's eyes, Tom was able to confirm Michael's theories, experiencing firsthand the hell hidden behind the guise of normality. He saw depraved purebloods living above the law, free from any consequences. He saw corrupt Ministry officials convicting innocents without trial simply because it was convenient. He saw muggle-born wizards and witches living in fear, discriminated against because of their birth. The entire wizarding world was drowning in injustice, slowly suffocating citizens and robbing them of all hope.
It was horrifying. It was abhorrent. And that was going to change. He would no longer be manipulated by the shadowy overlords sitting in their ivory towers. He would destroy the old, rotten order and bring hope to this blighted world.
His first steps toward achieving this goal were actually quite simple, simplistic even, as he began by petrifying various pureblood children and spreading fear among the population. It was certainly a very crude action, lacking the finesse that his older self would no doubt have preferred, but it proved quite effective in causing panic at Hogwarts and making people more susceptible to his suggestions.
He used this to create the Heirs of Slytherin. Tom was well aware that he would not be able to bring about lasting change on his own. The scale of depravity in the wizarding world was too great for that to be possible. To do so, he needed the right subordinates to help him in his noble mission. He therefore decided to recruit Hogwarts students who exhibited traits useful to him, such as naive idealism, lack of serious ambition and innate loyalty, which would allow Tom to mold them as he saw fit, eventually turning them into ideal followers. Over the years, they would serve him loyally, carrying out his every order with a healthy enthusiasm and a smile on their faces.
To be honest, while this sounded exciting, it was actually quite an onerous task. Tom was forced to spend the first few months building the basic structure of his future organization and influencing group members with carefully worded letters and Lockhart's subtle nudges. It wasn't until after the Christmas break that he felt they were ready for their first real task: staging two seemingly separate protests at the same time.
They succeeded splendidly, much to his relief, spreading discontent in the school and attracting the attention of the entire wizarding Britain in the process. Thanks to Tom temporarily getting rid of Dumbledore and using Lockhart's influence to draw everyone's attention to Lovegood's rag, the Heirs of Slytherin would soon become quite famous and be recruited after graduating from Hogwarts, allowing Tom to infiltrate various factions in the future. Overall, his plan went almost exactly as he intended.
Almost. He certainly didn't expect a riot to occur, as he had explicitly ordered his followers to keep the protests peaceful. He wasn't complaining, however, especially since for some reason these riots were started by Lucius Malfoy of all people. He didn't know what the nobleman was thinking, but Tom was quite happy with this turn of events. That way, most of the blame for the protests and subsequent riots would fall on Lucius, humiliating the noble faction and improving the situation for the heirs.
The only negative consequence was that upon hearing about the riot, Tom became a bit overconfident, causing him to send Lockhart to deliver another message in his name, hoping to take advantage of the situation. It unfortunately ended with Lockhart being exposed as the "heir" to Michael and his comrades, causing Lockhart to lose whatever value he had before. Seeing no reason to keep him alive, Tom decided it was time to get rid of the loose ends and absorbed Lockhart's soul, as pathetic as it was, to fuel his resurrection.
That's why he was currently standing near the entrance to the chapter with his newly acquired body, marveling at the new sensations he was feeling for the first time in his life and waiting for his most special guest to finally appear. The one who opened the entrance in the bathroom on the second floor. The only one who would know where to find it and how to open it. He was waiting for Michael Brown.
After a few minutes of patient waiting, Tom heard a screech coming from the enchanted gate that served as the main entrance to the chamber. He turned his gaze toward it, filled with a certain anticipation, an expression he didn't know he was capable of feeling until now. Was he excited to see Michael? He concluded, after a moment's thought, that he was. He didn't know how to properly describe the relationship he had with Michael Brown, but at least he knew it wasn't a negative one. Most of the words that came to mind didn't seem appropriate, so he decided to settle on the word 'comrade' for now. Yes, he and Michael were comrades.
At that moment, the entrance finally opened, revealing a young, unassuming boy standing behind it.
The new arrival did not seem surprised to see Tom in the slightest, instead giving him a huge smile, clearly happy to see him. Tom was already about to greet him, enjoying the moment himself, but then he looked into Michael's eyes. He saw in them the same monstrosity he had seen as a diary: a tangled web of madness, capable of corrupting everything around it with reckless abandon. A mind so twisted that its very presence put pressure on Tom's mental barriers, desperate to share his delirious visions with the world. Tom became almost afraid, afraid of the incomprehensible monster lurking behind the boy's eyes. But then he blinked and the vision disappeared. Instead, he was looking at large blue eyes filled with warmth. Tom smiled, and his earlier fears forgotten, replaced by a strange peace he felt at seeing his companion.
"Hello Tom" The boy started, a huge grin still on his face "It looks like we finally meet in the flesh"
"It looks like we do" Tom replied, smiling himself.