Tom Marvolo Riddle walked the familiar east road from Hogsmeade. Cold fog bit at his face, collar and lapels, the tiny icy crystals sharp at each inhale. The shit weather didn't dampen his mood though. The newly minted whole seventeen year old body felt marvelous, full of possibility. His mind was whole, churning plans and sifting thoughts, just like it used to. He whistled an old tune as he kept a steady pace towards Hogwarts, his school, the only true home he'd ever had. There were countless memories of him walking this road, in rain or shine, in snow or sleet, alone or with others. The sum total of those memories warmed him and pulled at his center, to hurry.
The gates of Hogwarts appeared suddenly out of the fog. Tom had to stop to gather his breath at the sight. He blamed the cold wind for the prickling in his eyes. He jerked his heavy winter cloak tighter around himself and resumed walking after the annoying prickle had subsided.
At the gates, Tom crouched to feel the dirt in front of the gatehouse. The fog here was so thick he couldn't see his feet. He felt around the ground for the bite of the innermost ward of the castle. It nipped his fingertips as he made a pass over it. Having located the clear cut line, he used his wand to make a clean incision across his palm before squeezing the injured hand shut to let a few drops of his blood drip into the dirt. Tom Riddle murmured the words of the covenant Salazar Slytherin taught him in the parchment from the limbo, pledging his loyalty and his magic to Hogwarts. There was no outward sign of the words or his blood having worked. The night remained quietly serene, the fog still thick, the magic of the castle cloaked invisible.
Tom stood up and stared at the gates. They were supposed to remain closed if either the groundskeeper or a Hogwarts professor wasn't there to open them, to prevent students waltzing in or out of school unchecked. But when Tom ran light fingers across the ancient iron vines making up the huge gates, they silently swung open for him. A warmth washed over his body, tentative and welcoming, magical. The fog diminished as the befuddlement charms were left behind and Tom Riddle finally beheld the beloved castle of Hogwarts again. The hundreds of windows twinkled an inviting yellow in the early evening. It was pristine, set solid against the inky blue sky and bright stars, bearing no marring sign of the war he'd just waged and lost.
A fresh wave of guilt assaulted his overwrought senses. Even in another timeline, in another universe, he shouldn't have attacked Hogwarts. He shouldn't have let crazed murderers lose on these venerated grounds. Hogwarts was home. Tom Marvolo Riddle, last living heir of Salazar Slytherin, was supposed to protect it, just like he always guarded and viciously protected his precious things.
The boy grit his jaw. This time would be different. This time, Tom wouldn't make the mistakes of his past and turn to dust. He would be great again, a force to be reckoned with. And just like he'd promised himself when he'd seen Hogwarts for the first time as an eleven year old, he resolved that he would become the greatest wizard of their time.
It was dinnertime. Students filled up the house tables, looked over by the teachers at their raised table. Light chatter bounced around the great hall. In the middle of the raised staff table, sat Headmistress Dolores Umbridge, much like an overlord, looking over the serfs. She sipped from a cup of tea, satisfied that everything seemed well in her fiefdom.
The heavy wooden doors shot open with a bang and in walked a dark cloaked wizard, wand out, menace dripping in his wake. Someone screamed. Utensils clattered, dropped from surprised hands, the candles flickered from the sudden gust of wind around the hall. A few students, mostly sixth years or prefects, pulled out their wands, ready to defend or cast offense. The teachers hurriedly stood up and pulled their wands too. There were a few breaths of anticipatory silence as the dark wizard strode to the middle of the main aisle between Gryffindor and Slytherin tables and stopped.
"FILCH!" yelled the pink clad Headmistress. "Who is the intruder?"
Argus Filch, caretaker of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, galloped in from a side door, aiming to apprehend the strange interloper, Mrs Norris right at his heels. Six meters from the wizard, Filch hit a wall and fell back on his arse. Mrs Norris angrily yowled and scratched at the invisible wall she couldn't cross either. Filch hit air with his stick, but when he tried to crawl forward he was pushed back again. Twittering laughter and whispers spread across the hall as more students stood up for better looks at the spectacle. They had apparently decided that poking fun at Filch was a better activity than trying to apprehend the strange dark wizard.
"What is the meaning of this?" Barked Umbridge, rounding the teacher's table and coming to stand front and center on the platform.
The wizard lowered his hood, uncovering dark curls, a pale face and dark eyes brimming with power. His stance was tall, confident, while his long relaxed fingers twirled his bone white wand. Round and round the wand went as the wizard regarded Umbridge. A breathless silence ensued, followed by whispered sighs, oohs and aahs.
"Headmistress. Good evening." He finally uttered, voice level and calm, "I have come to check on my familiar. And collect a few personal items."
"Who are you?" trilled the Headmistress, feathers thoroughly ruffled because of the unruffled stranger.
Before the newcomer could answer, Rubus Hagrid, gamekeeper and Professor for Care of Magical Creatures piped up.
"You've a familiar 'ere lad? Where? What's it?"
Umbridge spared gimlet eyes on Hagrid while Professor Mcgonaggal stepped around the high table as well and came to stand beside Dolores Umbridge. She gave the young man a withering look for having caused a disturbance at dinner time, in front of the entire student body. Disturbing dinner was the height of uncivilized behavior in her books.
"Who are you, young man?" asked the Gryffindor Head of House.
"My apologies Professor. I should have started with that." he half grinned, the perfect picture of embarrassed self deprecation, "My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle Gaunt."
Severus Snape, professor DADA, went still at the mention of the name Gaunt. More murmuring erupted at the Slytherin table, earning them a sharp look from their Head of house, Professor Snape. Riddle slightly bowed his head towards the table of his ancestor's house, before looking straight at Dolores Umbridge, all humor gone from his eyes even though the half smile remained.
"I am the direct descendent and heir of Salazar Slytherin."
Gasps and exclamations followed the declaration. The students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables at the corners of the hall climbed their benches to get a better look at the Heir of Slytherin. Most of the female population and a few males found themselves blushing and fanning themselves at the sight of Tom Riddle's beautiful face and imposing stature. Really, he had forgotten about the fanatic attention he'd always gotten in his youth. And the love letters and love potions. Also the Valentines. Tom groaned inside at the prospect of going through another mortifying Valentine's day as a school boy.
"Merlin's pants!" Squealed Professor Filius Flitwik, "I don't remember having taught him. Where have you been, young Gaunt? Attended another Wizarding school?" The Charms professor climbed to stand on his chair for a better look at the wizard who claimed to hold the illustrious name of one of Hogwarts Founders.
"Where indeed? This is your ancestor's school. You should have come here as soon as you turned eleven." exclaimed Professor Pomona Sprout. "Didn't you get a letter?"
"I have been traveling the world, professors, learning magic from the Masters. You could say I am self taught. I sat for my OWLS at the Ministry and plan to take my NEWTS there as well." The wizard, Tom Riddle, informed the teachers. "My ancestor's familiar, mine now by right, is here. I'd like to check on the old beast. He can get antsy if left unaccompanied for too long."
"And where and what exactly is this familiar, might I ask? Our gamekeeper knows nothing about it." asked Umbridge, feeling warm herself and absolutely not liking how unflappable the young man looked.
"He is a basilisk, Headmistress. His nest is in the Chamber of Secrets." replied Riddle, thoroughly enjoying the kerfuffle that ensued his revelation..
More gasps, a couple shrieks of terror and one first year dropped unconscious. Madame Pomfrey rushed towards the Hufflepuff table to help the unfortunate girl.
Riddle stood still, and stared at Umbridge. Umbridge had gotten used to smarm, nervousness, discomfort or straight out fear from students. This young man looked straight in her eyes, as if she held no power over him, or over his world. The feeling felt dangerous. She had to make the dissonance go away. She had to make his Tom Riddle cow down to her. She had to make his eyes stop looking at her as if she was insignificant. It was time to remind him who held the reigns at Hogwarts. He might have an illustrious name, but that was all it would be, a name. Here at Hogwarts, she was the queen and everyone knew it.
"The wards of Hogwarts are ancient and legendary. No one but the Headmaster or Mistress can authorize visitors coming in or going out. How did you get in here?" Professor Mcgonagall asked.
"Hem hem, Professor Mcgonaggal, if you please?" Interjected Umbridge, and smiled at Riddle, "Now then boy! You are not allowed to enter Hogwarts without permission or invitation and I don't believe you petitioned for either. Go back to wherever you came from, write to me to ask permission to enter the school and then when I grant permission, you can come in here, accompanied by a professor. We will see about your little pet after you follow due process. No one gets a free pass at my school, not even the heir of Slytherin."
Tom looked at the woman, a slight downward dip of his lip the only indication that the words had caused annoyance. Over his next breath he told himself that one didn't crucio the Headmistress of Hogwarts in front of the entire student body. The students might enjoy it, but the Ministry of Magic might take offense. It would be prudent to wait for the right opportunity to teach the irritating harpy a right lesson in respect. And teach her, he would. He rearranged his face and called upon the genius but quietly respectful top student to fore.
"My apologies Headmistress." Tom said, conciliatory, beseeching, "Like I said, I have been traveling the world for years, without roots, without ties or a permanent home. I have learnt great magic at great expense. But through it all, I always wished to belong somewhere, to be a part of a family, to call someplace home. I searched high and low but never found it. Then I read an ancient manuscript about my ancestor's familiar in a hidden chamber of this castle. I came here and stood in front of the gates, looking in. There are almost no places as magical nor as powerful as Hogwarts. It pulled me in. It felt familiar, safe…"
Tom paused and affected a sigh, his audience hanging breathless for the next words he would utter in that deep voice that echoed through the hall like a spell.
"I didn't know who to approach for an invitation. So I just walked in and now I place myself in your power, trusting you will help me. Help me Headmistress. I promise I mean no harm. I just want a chance to look for this chamber and the basilisk."
Umbridge looked at the handsome boy, rendered speechless, wanting to go hug the lad's loneliness away. She had never felt such an emotion before and grappled with it, not knowing what to do. She didn't notice Snape getting up and coming around the teacher's table, stepping to stand at her other side.
"That still doesn't explain how you got in." The Head of House Slytherin murmured.
"My ancestor built this castle." Riddle answered, "Hogwarts' wards come literally from my blood. I think they recognized my right to be here and opened."
Professor Snape walked down the platform, closer to Tom than anyone else had dared yet after Filch tried and failed to apprehend the young wizard.
"The Chamber of Secrets is a myth, Mr Gaunt." he murmured.
"Not to me or to those of our blood Professor." Riddle gave the man a self conscious smile that brought forth a dimple on his chin.
A few nervous giggles were heard before cutting off when Snape stared at the Slytherin table.
"I assume you know where this supposed chamber lies. Even if you've never set foot within Hogwarts?" Snape cocked a brow.
"The knowledge has been passed down to me. But we won't know till I try."
Dolores Umbridge decided she'd been ignored enough. The boy might be beautiful and charming, but no one rendered her speechless. Most especially, no one could talk to this Tom Riddle Gaunt till she was done with him. She aggressively cleared her throat, to everyone's attention.
"Be that as it may, we have not heard of the Gaunts for decades." Umbridge eyed Tom, uttering the word Gaunt as if it was something rotten, and those who knew her well knew that she was going to get nasty very soon. The Dolores Umbridge show was going to start and the student body and teaching staff looked on with dread, as they would a train wreck.
"The last known Gaunts were paupers, disfigured to the extent that they were barely human. The line died out with Morfinn Gaunt in Azkaban, some fifty years ago." Umbridge announced the facts gleefully, taking pride in the history she knew, "Where, pray tell, have you been hiding all this time Mr- uhh, Riddle, was it? Forgive my intrusion, but is that a muggle name by any chance?"
A dropped pin could've been heard in the Great Hall, if anyone was so foolish as to drop one and attract attention.
"Riddle is my late father's name. He was a foreigner and died before I was born. I do not know whether he was muggle or magical." Tom answered, grave and dignified, "I do know that my mother was a Gaunt. The last one, before she had me and passed on soon after as well. I have been out in the world since, working, studying, supporting myself. All I wanted was to see my ancestor's legacy, take comfort in my familiar..."
Riddle trailed off and hardened his jaw, as if steeling himself.
Minerva Mcgonagall lowered her raised wand, her face going soft. Pomona Sprout lowered her wand too, as did Flitwick and Aurora Sinistra, the Astronomy professor. Murmurs started, hemms and haws of sympathy and support for the orphaned Tom Riddle Gaunt.
Dolores Umbridge had a complicated love hate relationship with Hogwarts. She loved the power over hundreds of students, their parents and teachers. She hated the children and the nuisance of constantly pretending to care a whit about their welfare. Case in point, why couldn't the blasted children take joy in her putting a half blood, however compelling, down a few notches? He might say he was the heir of Slytherin, but by his own admission, he wasn't sure he was pure. No one waltzed into Hogwarts and made demands of her, least of all half bloods or Merlin forbid mudbloods. That alien feeling for Tom again tried invading her cold thoughts and she squashed it with all her might.
"Nevertheless. You cannot access school property without my authorization. I will not permit it. Leave the castle right this instant." Umbridge smiled and stood as tall as she could.
Tom Riddle spared the doors behind him a glance, turned and fixed his stare at the Headmistress. His name hadn't worked. His charm had melted most of them but not the infernal Headmistress creature he most needed the support of. Frustrated anger filled his veins. He hadn't crossed time and lives to be thwarted by this toad of a woman, Headmistress of Hogwarts or not. Well then, when nothing worked, intimidation was his trusted and by far the favorite tool to bring recalcitrant people to heel.
"You give me no other option then. I'll just have to call him forth and check on him. I advise everyone to be still and close or lower their eyes if they don't want to die a most gruesome death. My familiar is a basilisk after all."
Before anyone could stop him or make full sense of his words, Tom Riddle raised his wand. The candles of the Great Hall went out, plunging the huge space into stygian darkness. The windows appeared to have been shuttered securely. Here and there, a lumos was murmured, producing flickering light that did nothing to dilute the dark. A long hissed word in parseltongue rang out. The children froze, as did the teachers. A series of hissed words were spoken, voice amplified magically. A pause, silence then…Stone ground against stone as heavy slabs seemed to be grinding together, the immovable stones of the castle rumbling as they moved somewhere out the Great Hall. The doors banged open for the second time that night as a huge shadow slithered in, hissing, snarling, scales susurrating against the marble floor.
The silhouette of Rubeus Hagrid rose from the staff table with a clatter and rushed forward.
"Blimey 'tis a basilisk. Bless my eyes!"
"Shut your eyes, you fool." Snape ordered Hagrid as he ran back to the teacher's platform.
"STOP! STOP IT THIS INSTANT! LUMOS" Headmistress Dolores Umbridge yelled at the top of her grating voice. "Make that beast go away Mr. Riddle."
"But Headmistress, where should I send it?." Riddle yelled innocently, to be heard above the slithering, "He looks hungry."
Students shrieked in alarm and started stampeding over each other to get to the corners of the hall, away from the huge slithering shadow and the boy in the middle of it. Dishes clattered, food was smashed, wands hastily raised to see where they were going.
"MAKE...IT...GO...AWAY!" Umbridge had apparently lost her mind and composure "DO WHAT YOU WANT. JUST MAKE IT GO AWAY."
Through a series of weak lumos, everyone could now see a colossal snake, taking up all of the center aisle, curling around Tom Riddle. It raised its hood over the wizard's head and opened its mouth full of fangs in a deep hiss.
"I want to finish my NEWT year at Hogwarts." Riddle demanded.
"Be my guest. Join right in." Umbridge cried, "Now shoo off the bloody snake."
"You're hurting his feelings, Headmistress." Riddle shook his head in absolute glee, "He can see your tears you know. He is asking if you'd like to play with him?"
There was a loud thud as if someone passed out, most probably petrified out of their wits. In the dark, Riddle the Basilisk lowered its head and Tom petted it affectionately. With a whispered command, he sent the king of snakes back. The snake didn't want to go and curled its huge body around the young man. Tom petted it some more. Then with a lingering hiss, the snake coiled and undulated and went slithering back the doors it had come in.
The candles started blinking back again. Tom Riddle stood right where he'd been standing before the lights went out. The teachers stood in various defensive positions around the platform and against the house tables. The students hid behind or under the tables, a few brave ones up on the tables, poised to do something. Anything.
Dolores Jane Umbridge, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry lay unconscious beside the elaborate Heads podium, probably petrified beyond her wits.
"Oh honestly Mr. Riddle!" Madame Pomfrey huffed in irritation as she rushed to the Headmistress to start whatever healing was required, "How many witches are you going to let swoon over you tonight?"
If one was looking closely, one would see the bile that Severus Snape swallowed with difficulty at the thought of Umbridge swooning over Tom Riddle.
Professor Mcgonagall cleared her throat to get attention.
"Have you had any dinner Mr Riddle?" She asked Tom, eyes smiling.
"I would be grateful for some Professor." Tom Riddle grinned.
"Let's sort the boy first. Get him settled in a house. We need to know which house to dock points from." Snape murmured while staring at the Headmistress's prone form.
"Dock points professor?" Riddle inquired innocently.
"I agree Severus," Flitwick jumped up and down to gain attention, "Sort the boy so I can award him points for the excellent demonstration of charms we just witnessed."
"I would say dock them for the uproar he has caused." countered Snape, walking towards Riddle. "See to the Headmistress, Madame Pomfrey. I'll take the lad to the office and get him sorted."
"We need to sort him?" Mcgonagall smirked.
"Wouldn't want the old hat to feel left out." Snape quipped and motioned for Riddle to follow him out the hall.