The next Hogwarts year was beginning. Tom Riddle was on platform 9 3/4 with his parents. Just last year, he was still at that miserable orphanage, until James and Eliza adopted him. At first, he was surprised, and scared, because he never expected that day to come. He never felt loved by anyone, and he never loved anyone. That was the only thing that he didn't understand. He never felt love, so what was the point of it? All of that was changed when he got adopted. Starting first with sympathy, and growing from that. Then he finally started to understand it. At first, he dreaded death, fearing that every fiber of his being will one day disappear, and no one would even care. Now, he finally understood what was love, at least the love of one's parents, he still needed to experience other types of love. This was still a phenomenal start for him. He finally let go of his fear of death, knowing that it doesn't matter anymore. Never again will he feel empty.

"Goodbye, sweetheart! We will miss you!"

"Don't forget to write to us! Good luck!"

"I will, don't worry! I will miss you dearly!", replied Tom.

He himself had to admit that he was feeling pretty down, he already missed them. Not wanting to feel down, he pulled out the book about the house of Slytherin that he so dearly loved ever since he got it for his 16th birthday. It did it's job pretty well, he cheered up a little bit. That is, until Abraxas Malfoy showed up.

"Still associating with those nasty muggles, Riddle?", he sneered,
"And I thought that you couldn't go lower, as if tainting our house with your dirty blood wasn't enough."

Tom was clenching his book tighter and tighter. How dare he make fun of his parents?! Still, he managed to keep his composure. Starting a physical or magical fight wasn't an option, he wasn't that petty.

"Funny how you think that coming from a noble and pureblood family means that you are above others. If you truly think that is the case, why don't you prove it? Do us all a favor and start getting points for the house, instead of draining it dry. I suppose that won't be difficult for such a talented and hardworking pureblood wizard?"

Abraxas was visibly angry, stubbornly contorting his face so that it wouldn't form a look of pure anger. Either way, it didn't matter, because Tom already read him like a book, pleased that it got to him. Still, Abraxas wasn't going to give up that easily. He nervously grit his teeth and sneered:

"Quite rude manners for the school's best student. I don't get how any of the teachers in this petty school gave you a glance, didn't that filthy muggle teach you some manners? It seems that petty orphans like you don't change. Where was your mummy when you needed her? She didn't care for you, even death itself was the better option than looking after you."

Tom didn't care about a single word that came out of his mouth. He knew that he had parents who loved him unconditionally.

But... did Abraxas' parents love him?

"Quite petty of you to insult my family and heritage just because you didn't get to make yours proud. Perhaps you are insulting me because of your own measly attempts at impressing them? Come to think of it, I never saw your father, or your mother praising you. Once. I wonder if it's any different at home? Maybe they just see you as an heir of their name, someone whose purpose in life is to keep the bloodline pure? I would feel rather distraught and miserable if I were you. There is no love in your so called family, it's all just a sugarcoated lie, Malfoy."

After that, Tom could see that Abraxas was on the verge of crying. Although, Abraxas would never cry in front of other people, it was considered a weakness by his family, showing mere emotion. Tom, on the other hand, excepted that that is not a bad thing. He poured all of his emotions freely to his mother, disappointed in himself, and also terrified of himself, because of the things he considered doing. But that was in the past, he would never even do such a thing as that, not even considering or thinking of it. Although, there was a little voice in his head that still urged Tom to continue his plan. His plan of becoming immortal. He despised that voice in his head, it made him sick. Countless sleepless nights and nightmares were caused by it. It also made him terrified of himself, he was always scared that he was going to go bad and hurt the ones he loved. No. He couldn't let it take over him. He was going to fight it until it disappeared, for good.
Meanwhile, Abraxas was visibly uncomfortable and swollen. Finally, after a long pause, he threatened, teary eyed and stuttering:

"You filthy little mudblood! Thoughts like that w-would never even c-come across my f-father's mind! H-He's going to hear about this, so you better cease this act right away!"

,,Greet him many times, tell him I said hello.", Tom said with a sinister smirk.

With that, Abraxas finally broke down and ran away from Tom, running to the other side of the Hogwarts express, back to his Slytherin friends. After that, Tom felt relieved, he had managed to toy with Abraxas' insecurities to his gain, but something was missing. He didn't feel any joy from it. Instead, guilt quickly engulfed him, along with fear, because he was afraid that the little voice in his head was winning, what if he really hasn't changed? He refused to believe it. He went over the situation that just happened, again.

"It was wrong of me to go out on him like that? He currently suffers from the same thing that I suffered from a mere year before. What should I do...?"

He had two thoughts on his mind, that it was wrong of him to lash out on him, but at the same time, he insulted and ridiculed his parents, which resonated badly with Tom.

Meanwhile, the Hogwarts express halted and all of the students started coming out of the train, Tom being one of them. This encounter with Abraxas made him think.

What was he going to do this school year?

Definitely write letters to his beloved parents and get good grades, but he couldn't replace talking with his parents face to face with letters. It saddened him. He didn't have his parents here, maybe it would be nice to have a friend...?

He arrived at the station, which was very close to Hogsmeade. While on the train, he had been visited by the trolley lady, but he said that he was fine. Thankfully, he had some pancakes with him, which he gladly ate. All of them were fruit flavored, most of them being with plum jam, because that was his favorite. Anyway, he gladly ate them, leaving some for later.

He grabbed his suitcase and backpack and got off the train. When he got out, there were students everywhere, struggling with their luggage. Tom, however, bewitched his suitcase and backpack, so that he wouldn't have that problem. They floated with ease behind him. Soon, he finally did arrive at Hogwarts.

It was refreshing to see the school again, but it wasn't as big of a thing anymore, because even without Hogwarts, he would still have a home to go to. The first place he went to was of course the Slytherin common room. Even if he was the school's prefect and head boy at the same time, he still needed to share a room with that bigot. Thinking of that made him groan in dissatisfaction. Whatever he did, he would always be stuck with them. And the thing that made it all the worse it that most of his roommates were friend with Abraxas. He just couldn't wait to get made fun of, especially because of his nightmares.

When he entered through the castle's door, he saw Abraxas with his group of friends and pointing at him, with a dissatisfied look on his face. With that, Tom knew that wasn't a good sign, knowing that they would surely gang up on him, today or tomorrow.

Choosing to ignore this, he walked to the Slytherin dormitory. Since it was already dark outside, he got dressed in his pajamas and ate the remaining pancakes. Soon after, he brushed his teeth and went to bed, staying up a few more hours reading his new school books once again. Thankfully, he was in a dormitory that didn't contain that bigot Abraxas.

After some hours of reading, he finally went to sleep. At first, it was bliss, finally getting to have some rest after that long train ride, and that little encounter with Malfoy. Soon after, he finally fell asleep. It was going well after a few hours, but then something disturbed him.

He was in a mysterious room, staring at another boy through a blurred window. The boy he was staring at had black, neat hair that was organized, his bangs being a little curly and moved to one side. He was tall and lean, but Tom felt really unsettled by him. The boy's eyes were bloodshot, with scarlet red pupils. They couldn't stop staring at each other. When the window cleared up, the boy looked very familiar.

He then realized that that wasn't a window, it was a mirror.

"Such a shame.", his reflection said with a smirk.
"And wasted potential.", it continued.

Tom couldn't help but feel angry. This thing was still muttering utter nonsense, while he was clenching his fists.

"I've had enough of you!", Tom screamed.

"Now, now, it is not very polite to interrupt someone's speech, isn't it, Riddle?", it muttered.
"I am just reminding you that it isn't too late. You can still reach your goal, our go-", it was interrupted.

"Who said that that was my goal!?", Tom interrupted him.
"You and me are completely separate, I am not a monster like you!", he screeched.

"Silly little boy, you and I are the same, I am the thing that you desire to become. Your perfect self, your goal in this world. If we embraced, you would be the most powerful sorcerer in the world, lord-", it stopped.

The mirror broke into thousands of pieces. Not wanting to hear the dreaded name that he himself made just a year ago, he broke it with a non-verbal spell. But, the words that it was saying weren't going away, instead, every piece that he broke continued monologuing, persuading him to change him mind. Thousands of voices rang in Tom's head, each saying different things.

"NO!", he hopelessly screamed.
"STOOOOOP!"

The pieces all began to laugh at that. Pathetic, they thought.

Suddenly, they stopped. Sadly, for Tom, his ears still rang with their painful words. Of course, there was a catch for their silence. Tormenting him mentally wasn't enough, they wanted physical torture. So, without Tom's control, the pieces began to fall back in place. Tom watched in horror as they flew near him, quickly gaining speed. The pieces flew at terrifying speeds. With that, they began to lodge themselves into Tom, piercing his back. There were larger pieces, too, which impaled his back, while he screamed in agony. He saw nothing but red liquid and his protruding organs. He wanted to say something, ANYTHING, to make it stop. But every time he tried to speak, he made gurgling sounds in his throat, vomiting out large portions of his blood.

Tom woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, bolting right up, with his eyes swollen and tearful. His whole body was trembling while he took shallow breaths. Thankfully, his roommates were sleeping like they were knocked out cold, ignoring his screams.

"There is no way that I'm going to sleep after this!", Tom thought, heavily agitated and shaken.

After that, he laid on his bed for hours, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the dreaded morning.

"No school year of mine could start normally, could it?", he thought that it was so unfair.
"I suppose this is my punishment for all of my wrong doings and deranged plans",
"No wonder I am having nightmares like this.", he thought with tears in his eyes.