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Chapter Thirty Two: Chronicles of Lord Voldemort Part I

Needless to say, Regulus’s statement had caused a great deal of unrest within the group. Leo finally decided to speak what the others had surely had been thinking.

“Wait a minute, you can’t kill what is already dead,” repeated Leo in a slow dull voice. “Does that mean…”

“It means exactly what I said it does, turtle,” replied Regulus in a venomous voice. “It’s a long story but I will briefly touch upon it so there is no doubt left in your mind about what I meant by what I said.”

Regulus paused for less than second, long enough for dramatic effect.

“I managed to track down one of his Horcruxes,” started Regulus who did not need to elaborate who he was talking about. “A charming locket that is currently at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place which I’m sure you must have figured out by now so I won’t waste a further breath discussing that.”

Harry nodded curtly, that was the only one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes that they managed to locate and it was rather lucky they managed to stumble upon it. Unfortunately, they didn’t locate any more of Voldemort’s Horcruxes beyond that one locket.

“I located the Horcrux, managing to disable the protections around it, leaving me rather weakened in the process,” continued Regulus. “The Dark Lord had suspected me of being up to something for quite the period of time, especially since I was rather reluctant to partake in certain Death Eater traditions. Somehow, I’ve never found out how exactly, he decided to send one of his deadliest vampire assassins to finish me off when I was weakened from removing the locket from the cave. The vampire overwhelmed me, but before he could kill me, some kind of defense mechanism activated from within the Horcrux. I’m not sure what happened, I managed to be partially turned into a vampire.”

“So, you were partially turned into a vampire, but what happened to the assassin vampire?” asked Lily curiously.

“I haven’t gotten the slightest clue, but I didn’t see him around when I managed to come to,” replied Regulus. “The curse of immortality became evident when two of the Dark Lord’s minions paid a visit to my reported location to make sure the vampire had finished the job. They attacked me but if I had any doubt of becoming a vampire, that doubt was erased when one of the Death Eaters fired a particularly powerful Killing curse at me that had no effect. I managed to destroy both of the Death Eaters in short order, before causing the illusion that we wiped each other out in a scuffle. I stashed the locket at Number Twelve Grimmauld place quickly before I escaped to much colder climates, completely devoid of sun.”

“Yes but you can be killed, because there are accounts of vampires being destroyed,” piped up Hailey.

“Destroyed yes, but killed is an entire matter as strictly speaking vampires are not considered to be living,” explained Remus.

“The werewolf has a point,” replied Regulus coldly as the other members of the Black Wand lingered in the background. “I have many of the qualities of a live human being but there is one essential element to be considered alive that I am lacking. Namely, a pulse.”

Regulus looked around, before pulling vial of a red substance that Harry had a strong suspicion that was blood out of his robe before popping the cork and downing half of the vial in one gulp.

“One thing has been bothering me,” said Lily. “Since you joined Voldemort, you would have had a dark mark. So exactly how did you get into this country without getting knocked straight back out..”

“Yes, the security measures around this fine country,” said Regulus sarcastically which caused Raph, Don, Mikey, Leo, and Hailey to glare at him with narrowed eyes. “To answer your question, The Dark Lord does not mark new Death Eaters until six months after they joined. I managed to last five and a half months in his service, so I would not have received the dark mark. That may have changed since my day as a Death Eater. I haven’t the slightest idea. Unfortunately, the one thing the Black Wand doesn’t have a direct pipeline into the Dark Lord’s demented mind. Not even his most trusted followers have access to that.”

“Yet, you do have some crucial information about Voldemort,” prompted Harry. “The reason I came here, I might add.”

“Of course, Potter, I am getting there, now that certain things about how and why I’m here have been addressed,” replied Regulus. “Now I trust none of you have any more dunderheaded questions.”

Everyone shook their head when Harry gave them a warning looking. Regulus and his fellow Black Wand members looked at each other. The moment had come to tell the entire story of how a young ambitious boy named Tom Marvolo Riddle morphed into perhaps one of the sadistic dark wizards ever, Lord Voldemort.

“To understand Voldemort you must first understand his past,” a female member of the Black Wand in a tired voice. “Through years and years of hard work and effort the Black Wand managed to get together the most detailed event of his life, outside of what Voldemort could tell of himself.”

“Including some parts of his life that Voldemort would wish for us to soon forget,” continued another member of the Black Wand.

“Let’s get on with it, shall we,” prompted Regulus in a sharp voice before he cleared his throat. “I suppose it all started with Voldemort’s disgraced ancestors, the Gaunts. Many witches and wizards felt they were among the most vile and cruel people in the entire magical world. They were also once a very prestigious pureblooded family, taking their pureblood ideals to insane levels in many cases. Over time their fortune was squandered through various means and by the time the tale of the origin of the Dark Lord begins, they only had a couple of family heirlooms and a rundown dump of a house to their name. They got by on the necessities by thievery, something that Marvolo Gaunt excelled at.”

“Marvolo?” asked Ginny curiously before something dawned upon her as her face grew grim. “Yes, of course, because his middle name was after his grandfather. Apparently it must have been on his mother’s side. Tom told me during my first year.”

Ginny’s face contorted darkly with her memories of being tricked by Riddle’s diary and Harry put his arm around her reassuringly, which caused her expression to become a little more cheerful.

“Marvolo, had two children, a son and a daughter,” continued Regulus as if there hadn’t been an interruption. “I believe they were a couple of years apart in age and Marvolo essentially raised them himself, as their mother died in a mysterious accident a few months after the daughter, Merope, was born. The Gaunt family lived a reclusive and internally troubled life in poverty for many years. That all changed one crisp fall evening when a young Muggle went for a walk near the Gaunt home.”

Harry and Ginny exchanged looks, both having a theory about who exactly the Muggle in question was. Regulus continued, launching into the story of the first meeting between Voldemort’s parents.

Wind rustled the leaves from the cool fall breeze as an eighteen year old girl with dark lank hair with a vacant look in her eyes and a look etched on her plain looking face that plainly stated that she had given up on life a long time ago, leaned up against the dilapidated shack of a house. The Gaunt residence looked as if it would crumble at any instant.

Merope looked around, feeling rather thankful that her father was asleep and her brother apparently left for the day. She briefly entertained the notion of just walking away right now. That notion was promptly dismissed when Merope realized that much as her father had pointed out, she was useless and couldn’t survive on her own.

Merope’s head sprung up with footsteps rapidly approaching. A regal looking man approached, with dark hair perfectly framing his face. Merope’s eyes lingered on him for quite some time before the Muggle turned around, looking at the Gaunt residence in disgust. He seemed to not notice Merope standing there as he muttered something under his breath. Merope slowly walked forward, wanting to get a closer look at the man. A strange urge to keep following him down the road and never come back manifested in Merope’s mind.

“Merope!” hissed a harsh voice in Parseltongue, causing the Gaunt girl to spin around in horror. Her brother, Morfin, stood there with an enraged look on his face. “You dare dishonor our family line by gawking at a filthy Muggle.”

Merope shook her head madly, but Morfin just gave her a disgusted glance.

“Father will hear of this, the thought of you even fouling up our ancient blood line is disgusting,” hissed Morfin, as he advanced on the Muggle with his wand raised in the air.

A horrified look appeared on Merope’s face, but she knew she couldn’t do anything to stop Morfin from attacking this man.

“Muggle, turn around and face me,” hissed Morfin in Parseltongue and sure enough, the Muggle turned around, surveying Morfin through narrowed eyes.

“I beg your pardon good sir but I couldn’t quite understand you,” said the Muggle in a slow voice. “Maybe you should speak in a matter in which a cultured human being would understand.”

“Maybe you’ll understand certain other languages, like the one spoken by my wand,” replied Morfin venomously in Parseltongue as he pointed his wand towards the Muggle with a mad glint in his eyes.

“Put your stick down,” ordered the Muggle pompously but Morfin just grinned, showing at least three rotten teeth. “Do you hear me, man? I, Tom Riddle, suggest you put your stick down or I’ll call the asylum to haul you in.”

A jet of yellow light blasted from Morfin’s wand, striking Riddle full force in the face. Riddle’s face was covered with large green sickly looking boils. Riddle gave a mighty scream, as the boils seemed to be inflaming his face before beginning to burst one by one, emitting black ooze.

“Doesn’t look handsome now, does he?” asked Morfin, leering at his sister. “Maybe I can give you a set to match if you would like. You would like that, wouldn’t you?”

Merope backed up against the wall, shaking her head from side to side frantically. Morfin broke into an insane round of giggles, a crazed look in his eyes as the pained yells of Riddle echoed in the background.

The door of the Gaunt residence creaked open, revealing the stooped form of Marvolo Gaunt. Marvolo looked absolutely enraged from being woken up.

“What’s this racket about?” growled Marvolo in Parseltongue and Morfin broke into a loud round of giggles, before pointing to Riddle who was now howling in absolutely pain as his face was coated with black ooze that inflamed his skin.

“Merope was staring at this Muggle,” hissed Morfin in Parseltongue and this apparently was all Marvolo needed to know. He stormed over towards his daughter and raised his hand. She cowered against the wall.

“You dare dishonor our noble blood line by looking at a Muggle!” yelled Marvolo. “A noble blood line that can be traced back to Salazar Slytherin! I should burn your eyes out, you filthy whore.”

Marvolo turned his attention to Riddle, a malicious look plastered on his face. Merope sunk down to the ground against the wall, trembling in fear.

“Merope, if you ever defy me again, this is what will happen to you,” growled Marvolo as he raised his wand and pointed it towards Riddle, who had now dropped to his knees, his head placed firmly in his hands.

A loud banging nose echoed throughout the air and Marvolo broke his concentration to see a dozen Minister Aurors pointing their wands at the Gaunt family.

“Put down your wand, Gaunt!” yelled the lead Auror threateningly.

“On what grounds?” challenged Marvolo.

“For viciously assaulting a Muggle and talking about our world in front of him,” responded another Auror. “In fact, I think all three of you should be tossed into Azkaban for your crimes.”

Harry, Ginny, Hailey, Sirius, Raph, Leo, Mikey, and Don all looked around with shocked looks as Regulus paused for dramatic effect.

“Wait a minute, the Ministry wanted to take all three of them in?” asked Leo.

“When it was Morfin who attacked Riddle and I suppose you could make a case for Marvolo as well, as he could have killed him had the Ministry not intervened,” said Raph in a disgusted voice. “That Merope girl didn’t even do anything, she was just…”

“In the wrong place at the wrong time,” interrupted Sirius in a dark voice. “I don’t doubt that at least half of the people in Azkaban are in there because of unfortunate circumstances of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact, if I hadn’t caught up with Peter when I did, I might have avoided Azkaban.”

“Although knowing what we found out about Dumbledore, he might have concocted some way to get you thrown into Azkaban anyway,” replied Lily.

Sirius nodded in agreement but one of the members of the Black Wand picked up the story as they continued.

“Needless to say, the Ministry of Magic attacked Morfin and Marvolo, before throwing them into Azkaban and then they undid that vile hex on Riddle before modifying his memory,” responded the Black Wand representative. “Merope, it should be noted, slipped away in the scuffle but the Aurors just viewed her as a bonus and didn’t bother looking too hard for her.”

“It sounds to me as if they were looking for an excuse to arrest the Gaunts,” suggested Hailey.

“You may in fact be on to something, Miss Potter,” responded Regulus silkily. “I have no clue whether or not they were looking for an excuse but fro what I have heard; the Gaunt family did make quite a few powerful and influential enemies over the years.”

Regulus paused for a second before continuing to speak.

“We are getting off the story of the Dark Lord but it continues as the first meeting, of sorts, of his parents,” continued Regulus. “I’m certain you noticed that Tom Riddle never noticed Merope, not even acknowledged her presence. However, she certainly noticed him and made plans to snag him. Even if she had to do something that was dangerously close to being illegal.”

Approximately three weeks after her brother and father had been sent to Azkaban, Merope Gaunt stood in the shadows outside the dilapidated Gaunt residence, looking up and down the pathway hopefully. The day was a bit warm for the fall season. Every day since she saw him, Merope hoped she would meet Tom Riddle again but he didn’t come near the Gaunt residence. She would wait and Riddle would be her ticket out of her sheltered life. Merope formulated a carefully laid out a plan to make Riddle hers that her father would have been proud of, had Riddle not been a Muggle that is.

The sound of horses approaching brought Merope out of her thoughts. The form of Tom Riddle appeared on horseback and he looked rather tired and slightly overheated. His eyes rested on Merope.

“You, girl, come over here!” shouted Riddle pompously and Merope walked over with trembling hands. Riddle climbed down off, looking over Merope’s tattered and filthy robes with a slight bit of disgust. “Fetch me a drink and I may pay you enough to replace those wretched, disgusting rags.”

Merope turned her back, with a bit of a smirk on her face in spite of herself, the first time she had showed an expression other than one of fear or indifference for as long as she can remember. She pushed open the battered door of the Gaunt residence, before she walked inside towards the kitchen, a walk that was rather short. Reaching over towards the counter, Merope picked up a pitcher of water before tipping some of it into medium sized cup. She strolled around the table, before grabbing a corked vial with the contents of a clear liquid. Popping the cork off, the contents of the vial began to bubble sinisterly with a slight pink vapor rising for it. Merope carefully tipped the contents of the vial into the water. She picked up the glass and began to walk it out towards Riddle. Since he was just a Muggle, Merope was certain he would not suspect a thing.

“So that’s how his parents got together,” muttered Harry to himself darkly as the others looked around with looks of absolute disgust.

“Indeed,” replied Regulus. “Quite frankly, both of the Dark Lord’s parents had quite a multitude of issues but that is beside the issue. The fact remains that if Merope Gaunt had been captured and sent to Azkaban, she would not have been able to slip Riddle the love potion. If the love potion had not been administered, then those two would not have gotten married. If those two had not gotten married, Tom Marvolo Riddle would not have been born. Had Tom Marvolo Riddle had not been born”

“Then there would be no Lord Voldemort,” finished Lily.

Regulus didn’t answer either way which caused Harry and Ginny to exchange apprehensive looks.

“So that would have been a good thing,” prompted Mikey but there was a bit of an uncertain air in his tone.

“Tom Marvolo Riddle might not have been born but who is to say that someone else might have eventually taken up the mantle of the most feared Dark Lord in nearly a century,” suggested the Black Wand member in a grizzled tone of voice.

“Quite right, especially when Gridelwald was defeated,” added another member of the Black Wand.

“And there could have been a chance that a dark lord could have risen could have been more vicious then the worst descriptions of Voldemort,” suggested Remus thoughtfully.

“So, you see with that one event being slightly altered, history could have been changed for the better, remained much the same, or could have been worse then any of us could have imagined,” added Harry.

“Excellent observation Potter, not bad for a half blood,” said Regulus curtly which caused Sirius to grit his teeth but Regulus paid him no mind. “The story continues with Merope becoming pregnant with a boy whose name would be feared by the majority of the Wizarding world. However, something occurred in between the day of the unholy union and the birth of the future Dark Lord. The Black Wand has not been able to figure out exactly why but Tom Riddle left Merope Gaunt when she was seven months pregnant.”

“Just out of the blue, after he had been under the influence of that love potion,” said Harry, frowning as he concentrated hard, attempting to recall what little he had learned about love potions during his time at Hogwarts but they were rather low on his list of things that he focused on remembering.

“Unnatural indeed but Riddle could have come out of his trance for a couple of reasons,” continued Regulus. “Merope may have in fact grown a conscious and stopped giving him the potion on her own free will but I find that fact very far fetched. Another possibility is she could have forgotten to dose him an extended period of time, long enough for the potion to wear off. I daresay Riddle would have been baffled at first but he would have eventually come to some outlandish Muggle conclusion that explained his odd behavior.”

“Either way, it looks like she stopped slipping him the love potion, either on accident and intentional” summarized Don and the others nodded in agreement.

“She sunk into a deep depression after Riddle left her, only staying alive long enough to give birth to her son,” picked up another member of the Black Wand.

“She did do one other thing before she gave birth to her son,” said Regulus. “She sold a locket that had been in the Gaunt family for years to a shop in Knockturn Alley called Borgin and Burkes. A locket that once belonged to one Salazar Slytherin, I might add. This gave her enough money to survive a few weeks before she gave birth to her son at an orphanage. Her last instructions were to name him Tom after his father and Marvolo after his grandfather.”

“Now the real tale of the life of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named begins,” continued another member of the Black Wand. “From all the accounts we managed to gather, Tom Marvolo Riddle was considered rather strange by the other children and staff at the orphanage. Not because of anything that he did, but rather what he did not do. He was said to interact very little with the other children, preferring to keep to himself. The other children mocked him for his aloof behavior, making snide comments at every possible opportunity.

“So he wasn’t exactly social but that is really no call for the other children to mock him,” said Harry.

“Harry, this is Voldemort we’re talking about,” said Hailey.

“Not yet,” responded Regulus. “He just merely Tom Marvolo Riddle, the series of events which lead him to become what he eventually became had not taken effect. He did nothing to warrant these remarks. Even through once he finally snapped, he may have remembered some of the earlier words and it may have fueled his hate towards Muggles in general.”

“One other key point is at an early age, Tom become very interesting on accumulating whatever knowledge he could,” added another Black Wand representative. “A very harmless hobby at first but the events of one afternoon gave the first signs, as microscopic as they were, towards hints of Tom Marvolo Riddle having darker tendencies.”

Seven year old Tom Marvolo Riddle sat on the front lawn of the orphanage he lived at, deeply engrossed in the book he was reading. It was a fairly interesting read detailing poisonous plants. The other children were busy playing but Tom didn’t really seem interested in such childish nonsense, due to the fact he was more mature then many his age or even a few years older. He was more interested in broadening his mind, soaking up any knowledge that he can. Flipping through the pages of the book, Tom was brought out of his reading momentarily by a snide comment by two children that were about three years older than him.

“Look at the little know it all weirdo, sitting over there, reading his little books,” remarked one of the boys in a pompous voice. “Amy, I hope he’s looking up how to not be a little creep.”

“Now, Dennis, don’t get too close to him,” remarked the girl, Amy. “He might throw his book at you.”

“Yeah or he might try and give me a paper cut,” replied Dennis before the two children burst out into laughing, which Tom decided to cheerfully ignore.

“Humans,” hissed a voice with disdain which caused Tom to look up from his book, looking a bit confused at the source of the voice. “They thrive on mocking members of their own kind for the simple reason their habits differ. Quite disgusting.”

Tom craned his neck, wondering briefly if someone was playing a joke but his eyes lingered on a small snake lying lazily in the grass right next to him. If he didn’t know better, he could understand precisely what was the snake was saying.

Being the knowledge obsessed child he was, Tom had to make sure.

“Hello,” said Tom calmly, addressing the snake which caused the snake to look up at Tom with what Tom interpreted to be amazement.

“You speak it,” hissed the snake in amazement.

“It sure does seem so,” replied Tom casually, not really caring about the stares he was receiving from the other children at the orphanage.

“Now he’s hissing to himself,” muttered one of the boys.

“What a little weirdo!” exclaimed an eleven year old girl, not bothering to lower her voice.

“Fools,” hissed the snake. “They do not understand what you can do to them.”

“Excuse me,” replied Tom. “What do you mean by that?”

Before the snake could respond, the children were being called himself the orphanage. Tom looked as if he wanted to stay but in the end he resigned himself to returning indoors. His curiosity was definitely piqued by what the snake told him.

“Needless to say, young Tom found out one of his many gifts that he became feared for,” summarized Regulus. “This was just the beginning of more discoveries to come.”

Seven Year Old Tom Marvolo Riddle stared up with the slightest hint of a hateful glance as two of the Orphanage children called Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop had pulled the book he was reading out of his hands.

“Hmmm, the Art of War,” declared Amy, as she flipped through the pages in a degrading fashion. “Tommy Boy, I don’t think this book will help you make any friends.”

“Now Amy, the little weirdo has his friends, the snakes,” replied Dennis in a pompous voice

“Who wants to be friends with a bunch of slimy reptiles?” replied Amy as she turned her nose up into the air. “Ewww!”

“Hey Diddle Riddle here would,” said Dennis in a serious voice before turning to address Tom. “So desperate for friends that you were attempting to get that creepy Saki man to take you with him when he showed up last week.

Harry sat up straight at the mention of the word “Saki” which caused Ginny to look at him with a reassuring look.

“Harry, I’m sure it isn’t him,” said Ginny calmly.

“No it is him,” replied Regulus shortly. “He used the orphanage that The Dark Lord had grown up in to create children to train for the Foot.”

Harry seemed absolutely rattled by this piece of news.

“Harry, are you going to be okay, bro?” asked Raph in a concerned voice.

Harry nodded before promptly Regulus and his fellow Black Wand members to continue.

“Even if I was, that really isn’t any of your business,” replied Tom in a voice devoid of any emotion. “Now give me back the book or…”

“Or what?” asked Dennis as held the book out of Tom’s reach. “Come on Tommy, reach for your book or are you too short.”

Tom wanted nothing better than to hurt these two children and sure enough, the book zoomed right out of Dennis’s hand and caused the boy to fly backwards. Amy shrieked loudly as Dennis struck the wall hard.

Tom smirked but there were two different streams of thought running through his mind simultaneously. While he was pleased that he managed to finally managed to fight back against the snide remarks, he wondered exactly how he blasted Dennis Bishop backwards.

Before Tom could ponder this thought much further, a scruffy looking woman entered the room.

“Mrs. Cole!” screamed Amy before pointing at Tom as Mrs. Cole turned her head to survey the scene. “He attacked Dennis! For no reason at all either!”

Mrs. Cole surveyed Tom through narrowed eyes.

“Come with me Mr. Riddle,” said Mrs. Cole. “I think we need to have a little talk about you about attacking the other children without provocation.”

Tom didn’t respond, feeling that it wasn’t worth his time to defend himself. He would not forget this but it was better off that he didn’t say anything.

“From that moment on Tom Marvolo Riddle managed to deduce that he was different from many other children, in the fact he had an unusual gift of manipulating his surroundings around him,” said Regulus.

“He must have used this power to gain revenge on the other kids to gain revenge on what they said and did to him, then,” said Hailey.

“Partially true but not maliciously, not yet,” replied one of the members of the Black Wand. “We can only guess, but from what little we know, the fact he was able to channel his magic to manipulate the minds of those who get close to him and deliberately influence their actions. Since he was able to use this type of magic without any preconceived notions about what worked, he showed quite a bit of aptitude to mind control.”

“Hence the reason why the diary was so powerful,” muttered Ginny.

“Also why he has such a powerful Imperius Curse,” added Harry. “It would make sense because he was able to channel that magic expertly when he was young.”

“Yes, there are a few with the theory that magic has no limits and those who have embraced those principles are among the most powerful witches and wizards in history,” said Lily wisely. “Sadly, more often than not, those people tend to be the ones who go on the killing sprees, with of course some notable exceptions.”

“It just goes to show you that while power can be a noble thing, it can also lead to corruption,” declared Master Splinter.

“Quite and there were small signs of the Dark Lord heading that wait during his early years until it eventually snowballed,” continued Regulus. “Dark Lords are made, not born, so he had to first fine tune his magic, accessing his full power. He figured out how to tap into his powers subconsciously at first before he managed to be able to control them on a conscious level. Mind you, he had not figured out that it was magic that he could do, that was still to come. Still, he remembered the early torments of Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson and began to form a plan to teach them a lesson by scaring them using his new found powers.”

Nine year old Tom Marvolo Riddle stood outside the orphanage that he lived, looking around intently. He had managed channel his special abilities, many of the children steered clear of him but there were still a few of them who made snide remarks about his antisocial attitude He ignored them for the most part, preferring to socialize with the snakes who seemed in awe with him.

He moved towards a pathway leading to a large steep mountain leading to a dark cave. Tom snuck up there at night sometimes to practice using his abilities. Slowly, he moved towards the cave to lure Benson and Bishop towards the cave to teach them a much needed lesson in respect. Looking over his shoulder, Tom saw that the two brats were following him, looking a bit too nosy for their own good. He channeled his abilities to project suggestions to continue following him, all the way up the steep mountainous range. Normally, they would not been able to ascend the rocky mountain but Tom managed use his own abilities to help them along their way towards the cave.

Bishop and Benson reached the top of the cave, as Tom peeked over their shoulder and followed him inside. Tom made them stand in place, frozen for what he suspected would be for a period of fifteen minutes, not able to observe the fact that he exited the cave. When they woke up, they would not remember how they got up here. With that in mind, Tom exited the cave, climbing down and leaving the two twelve year olds in some form of suspended animation.

“So there you have it, the first act of revenge from the Dark Lord,” continued Regulus.

“A rather vile act for a nine year old child,” commented Leo.

“But, considering what Voldemort’s done since, that was rather mild,” added Sirius.

“Quite but Tom did come forth with the information of the whereabouts of Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop two days after he left them up there when none of the orphanage officials could find them,” said Regulus. “I can assure you that the Dark Lord he eventually became would have left them up in that cave to rot slowly. Still, they did learn a lesson from the attack.”

“In other words, they avoided Riddle,” muttered Ginny.

“Quite frankly, they avoided everyone for the rest of their lives, until they died quietly in their mid twenties,” informed the gruff voiced member of the Black Wand. “Tom’s actions traumatized them for the rest of their short lives.”

“What was Riddle’s reaction when he realized what he did to Benson and Bishop?” asked Harry with morbid curiosity.

“He was definitely surprised with what horror was capable of bringing but Mr. Potter, do not presume that surprise would go hand in hand with remorse,” said Regulus. “Rest assure that after this incident, everyone avoided Tom, as the children were absolutely terrified of him. Needless to say, many were secretly celebrating when Riddle left to attend Hogwarts.”

“Yes, ever since the incident with the cave, nothing really of note happened in the life of Riddle, up until the time that Albus Dumbledore had met with him one summer evening to let him know that he had been accepted to Hogwarts,” continued a female member of the Black Wand.

Tom sat on his bed, cross legged, while deeply immersed in a huge book. It was a lovely day outside but Tom tended to avoid going outside except to talk to the snakes around the ground. His pale skin saw that he rarely saw much sunlight and preferred to spend much of his time indoors.

Tom heard a knocking sound on the other end of the door and the door creaked open to reveal Mrs. Cole and an aging man with long red hair and a beard that was graying slightly. Mrs. Cole turned to address Tom.

“Mr. Riddle, a Professor Dumbletron is here to see you about some school called Warthogs,” declared Mrs. Cole in a slightly tipsy voice before she walked out of the room to leave Dumbledore and Riddle alone.

“Actually, Tom, my name is Professor Dumbledore and I am the Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” said Dumbledore in a kindly voice.

“Professor?” asked Tom in a voice without any emotion whatsoever. “Is this some special school for the insane? Are you here to lock me up because I’m different? It wasn’t my fault that Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop got what was coming to them.”

“No, Tom, I assure you this is not a school for the insane,” replied Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. “It is a school for children with special abilities. Magical abilities in fact.”

Tom’s eyes snapped upwards, his curiosity grabbed by the words “magical abilities”.

“Magic,” muttered Tom calmly. “That’s what I can do, isn’t it?”

“Pardon,” prompted Dumbledore, his curiosity now caught as well. Something was rather strange about this boy. Dumbledore made plans to keep a close watch on him and perhaps use him, simply because of who he was descended from.

“Well, I’ve been able to move things without touching them,” responded Tom, choosing his words carefully, as this Professor Dumbledore seemed a bit too curious for his own good.

“Ah, you have, of course, been able to channel your abilities,” said Dumbledore. “Many have been able to somehow channel their magical abilities before they were properly trained, mostly emotionally charged if I’m not mistaken. This can be very dangerous and is frowned upon by the Ministry of Magic. Thankfully, Hogwarts will be able to train you to use your abilities so you will be able to use them in an acceptable matter and thus not be a danger to yourself and others.”

Tom personally thought that his abilities were fine the way they are and it seemed as if this Dumbledore fellow wanted to discourage the use of the abilities. Still, he nodded calmly, with his face fixed to a look of casual indifference.

“They told me that my father was named Tom Riddle also,” said Tom without preamble. “Was he magical?”

“I have no idea, Tom,” lied Dumbledore, who knew all too well about Tom’s heritage.

“Dumbledore knew more than he was letting on, but not bothering to speak up” remarked Sirius in a disgusted voice.

“Quite, Sirius,” responded Regulus. “However, this is not an indictment of Albus Dumbledore. That could be another entire meeting on its own and not nearly complete as this fragmented history of Voldemort.”

“I am curious about something, through,” prompted Hailey. “Riddle seemed to jump to the wrong conclusions and seemed to betray the fact he did something to Benson and Bishop to Dumbledore.”

“Yes but you are forgetting that Tom was still a child and children sometimes talk before they think,” responded Remus.

“Yes, I can see that but there are some instances in this story that Voldemort seems more cunning than other children his age,” replied Hailey.

“He was but there is a theory that has been suggested from time to time that there were two different personalities battling in Tom’s head at that time, personalities that were on opposite ends of the spectrum” suggested the gruff voiced member of the Black Wand. “One was Tom, who was rather humane and innocent child who had a thirst for knowledge. Then the other personality was much darker, one that would eventually manifested into Lord Voldemort. The Voldemort personality felt that everyone should fear him and thrived off the atmosphere of fear around him. He felt no remorse for anyone or anything, and didn’t care who he had to destroy to gain more power, to maintain that atmosphere of fear. I believe Muggles call this multiple personality disorder but there is another, magical, explanation from it. Tom Marvolo Riddle tapped into his magic, but he managed to tap into too much of it too soon and at too young of an age. It began to slowly warp his personality.”

“And as he got older, the Voldemort side of his personality began to show itself more and more until Tom was completely buried in the deepest regions of his mind,” concluded Regulus. “However, there is something I would like to bring to your attention for the Dark Lord, some interesting similarities between Riddle and another person in this room. Namely certain elements including a slight obsession with acquiring any knowledge possible, using magic beyond boundaries thought possible, being degraded by Muggles at an early age because of being different, any early distrust of Dumbledore, and considering reptiles as family.”

“What precisely are you trying to imply?” asked Harry coolly.

“Yes, Black, what exactly are you trying to imply,” repeated Lily defensively.

“All I’m saying, Mudblood, is that if history had gone differently, if the Dark Lord had been completely wiped out or he had remained with your Muggle relatives or anything else that turned out differently for that matter, he could have become just as vile as the Dark Lord himself,” said Regulus.

“That’s absolutely absurd!” screamed Ginny angrily with the looks on the face of the Turtles, Master Splinter, Sirius, Lily, Hailey, and Remus all agreeing with her exclamation. “Harry would never be like…him, no matter what happened.”

A small part of Harry’s mind wondered if he would have become a vile and sadistic dark wizard had his life turned out differently but he ignored it with every bit of concentration he could muster.

“No, perhaps not who is to say if Harry Potter was killed by the Dark Lord and someone else found a way to dispose of him, you wouldn’t have eventually stepped up to fill the void for whatever reason,” responded Regulus in a challenging voice which caused Harry to narrow his eyes angrily with his hand clasped shakily on his wand, an action that Regulus didn’t bother to acknowledge. “Of course there is just as much as much of a chance that anyone else could have been the Dark Lord. Riddle could have never been born, his mother could have survived her pregnancy, The Dark Lord’s father might not have abandoned his pregnant wife, or even the Tom personality might have won out, crushing the darkness from within. If there was no Lord Voldemort, someone else could have been the most feared Dark Lord in a hundred years or a Dark Lady for that matter, because we can only speculate what can happen.”

Regulus stopped, as the Black Wand members looked at him as if he had lost his mind. It was rather difficult to destroy a vampire but at the same time, it seemed as if Regulus was tempting fate too much.

“Tom was accepted to Hogwarts, a moment that may have officially began his ascent into darkness,” continued another member of the Black Wand quickly, before Regulus could say anything else to offend anyone. “As we recount several accounts from his seven years at Hogwarts, a few of them that were extremely difficult to obtain and details are sketchy at best. Perhaps then you can draw your own conclusions on when Tom Marvolo Riddle officially adapted the moniker of Lord Voldemort, effectively burying his past growing up in the Muggle world.”