A week after his experiment with that muggle doctor, Tom Riddle's plans worked out perfectly.
He had long wondered about the magical world that he had learned from his earliest years from his mother. He dreamed about it often and fantasied as a distraction from his own mundane world.
But it was hidden from the muggles and frustratingly he could detect no trace of it despite his efforts.
He had wracked his brains over the years of how he could find them if they presumably used magic to hide their world. Despite his own capacity for magic, he had no clue what to do.
He considered it an affront to his own magical abilities. After all, he was no better than the muggles in essence in not being able to find the world of magic. He was therefore obsessed and considered it a test of his abilities.
If you are indeed a wizard, you must be able to find them.
That was when the key hit him. It was so simple. They kept themselves deliberately concealed. As such, there had to be a law in place that prevented the voluntary reveal to the muggles. It was the only logical explanation.
His mother had warned him against it. He hadn't dwelled on the reason why when he was younger. He had been so stupid.
This had led him to reveal the existence of the magical world to that annoying muggle doctor that his foster parents forced him to see and even show him a minor piece of magic. Browning hadn't believed what he'd seen; he put it to the effects of "hypnosis". Tom had been regularly subverting his will to get out of appointments the same he did to animals. This led him to conclude that perhaps muggles were really not too different from animals fundamentally.
The next time Tom was forced to see him, he had no memory of their last session.
At last, this was visible proof that the magical world existed and that he was not alone in the world with supernatural powers. Making people forget what they knew was not something even he knew how to do although he longed to learn.
Tom would have been content with his "experiment" at just that, but he then received a visitor.
His foster parents were out and Tom loved it when he was alone in the house. He had to admit that the time he had been sent to was much better than the time he had come from. He did not miss the orphanage and he was secretly grateful for the far better clothes and food he was receiving. He had his own spacious room and wasn't required to do any chores either.
Instead, his main complaint with his new foster parents was that they were interfering, intrusive, and far too interested in his life. He wasn't speaking to them anymore since they forced him to see a psychiatrist as if he was clinically insane. He wasn't willing to take too much from them as he felt uncomfortable doing so and returned their gifts since he didn't want to be in their debt.
Fifteen minutes after his "parents" had gone out, the doorbell rang and Tom didn't even open the door.
She was a hard-faced, heavy-jawed woman with eyes of a hawk dressed in a ridiculous fashion. She had a satin ball gown dress paired with a safari hat, a pair of running shoes, and a metal chain necklace. Tom thought she was just a mental homeless person.
When he had turned away from the door, it just magically unlocked and Tom could detect the presence of magic immediately.
"Good day to you, Mr. Riddle I take it. My name is Amelia Bones from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
Tom's mind was swirling but he knew he had to keep the act up.
"What are you talking about?" he replied.
"Mr. Riddle," the woman said sternly this time. "Do not play act and lie to me. You are in deep trouble for repeatedly breaching the Statute of Secrecy and violating the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery…" She had a formidable presence that Tom finally was able to see under her ridiculous choice of clothes. He could sense the magical intent as he made her angry and it startled him. It was the first time he had ever sensed magic in another person.
"So, in short, we know that you know about the wizarding world. And so the law must apply to you as it does to any child growing up in a magical household," Bones explained.
"But I don't know anything about the wizarding world, as you call it," Tom threw up his hands defensively and mustered a look of innocence. "You mean the things I can do, that's actually magic?"
He seemed to be telling the truth. His was a strange case. It was rare enough for muggle-borns to be conscious of their own powers, but in Riddle's case he had clearly come up with an entire magical world in the back of his mind (which he thought was a lie) and fed it to the muggle healer. But he really knew nothing about the magical world.
Amelia didn't agree with the law regarding to the secrecy that was mandated for muggle-borns before they came to Hogwarts. She felt muggle-borns and their parents deserved to know as soon as there was underage magic. She had known fellow students at Hogwarts who faced abuse from their muggle parents as a consequence of their "oddities."
But she was forced to obey the law and no matter how cleverly the child tried to wheedle her out for information, she couldn't tell him even if she wanted.
"But I don't believe you at all. You say I can't use my powers, whatever you think it is, and you claim to be magical but I've seen nothing from you to believe you aren't ordinary."
At that, she believed she was legally allowed to show him if it was the only way to force him to obey the law. She spotted a potted plant in the corner of the room and transfigured it into a beautiful vase with a flick of her wand.
The boy's eyes were stunned for just a split second before he hid his surprise but a look of greed passed through them. "That's… most impressive. Do you know where I could learn to do that?"
"Consider this an official Ministry warning, Mr. Riddle," Amelia continued on. The boy was only eight and was an orphan so she was loath to treat him like an adult but the circumstances warranted it. "Since you now know about our world you will be held accountable even though you are underage. You will be treated exactly like a child growing up in a magical household."
"But that's completely unjust. I know nothing about the wizarding world. I want to come with you now to our world-"
"Out of respect for your non-magical guardians as well as wizarding law, I cannot reveal more…"
"But what will happen if I break the law again? What will happen to me?" Her nostrils flared dangerously. "Adults who flout the Statute of Secrecy, which is the most important law in the wizarding world, will be sent to Azkaban. That is wizarding prison. I can assure you it is an unpleasant place to be."
It enraged him deeply because no one, it seemed, in the magical community was willing to give him a chance to grow up in the magical world. But he was still to be treated like a child to magical parents! And despite being treated like a child growing up in the magical world sworn to secrecy, he was denied the right to go to the magical world for himself. He wasn't allowed to know more.
But he was also thrilled. He had actually met a member of the magical community even though he had to get in trouble to do so! Any attention was better than no attention after all.
Mrs. Bones' final words hung to his ears. They were like fragrant honey despite the way in which she barked out every word.
"But I'm not an adult, surely I can't go to prison?"
"Children who deliberately flout the secrecy laws may be denied a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry if they are deemed unsuited for a magical education," she boomed.
He grinned again recalling her words. She hadn't meant to say it but he had tricked it out of her.
So he had learned about the existence of a wizarding school and he would be going one day. Ironically, he had learned about it under threats of NOT being allowed to attend. That was deeply reassuring to him even though he had known logically there HAD to be a school where everyone learned magic.
But he wanted a date, a time, a year. He had no answers there and no clue how he could obtain one. And thus, the uncertainty of it, the incessant waiting…