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Chapter Thirty Three: Chronicles of Lord Voldemort Part II

Tom sat in the Great Hall, as the other first years chatted among themselves happily. He did not pay them too much attention, as nothing they had to say held any interest to him. All Tom thought about was the knowledge he was surely to accumulate in the next seven years. He particularly looked forward to checking out the vast library that Dumbledore had mentioned during their meeting.

Tom watched as Dumbledore walked out with a ratting looking hat, placing it on a three legged stool right in front of the first years. Without preamble, the hat began to sing. Tom decided it would be in his best interest to block the hat’s song out of his mind. The bad rhyming would drive him to the brink of insanity.

“First years,” declared Dumbledore in a booming voice, addressing the students. “You will be called forth one by one in alphabetical order before you are to place this sorting hat on your head. The hat will then sort you into one of the four Hogwarts houses, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor.”

The students waited eagerly with the exception of Tom who looked rather bored. Many people might have been amused by this but it wasted time that Tom could have been reading. Dumbledore pulled out a long list of names before he began to call them all off one by one.

“Abel, Matthew” called Dumbledore as a timid looking boy with dark hair moved forward, before he firmly placed the sorting hat on his head.

“HUFFLEPUFF” yelled the hat as Matthew Abel moved towards the Hufflepuff table.

“Abbott, Edward!”

A blond haired boy walked forwards with an uncertain look on his face, before sitting down underneath the sorting hat. It took a few seconds before the hat shouted out its verdict.

“GRYFINNDOR!”

The Gryffindors cheered as Tom rolled his eyes. They seemed like quite the immature lot, much like many of the children that he lived with at the orphanage.

“Allan, Christine!” called Dumbledore as a dark haired girl walked up to the hat, with a self assured expression before placing the hat on her head.

“SLYTHERIN!”

The Gryffindors hissed as the Slytherins clapped slowly, without making too much of a show.

“Avery, Leonard!”

“SLYTHERIN!” called the hat just a half of a second after Avery put the hat on his head. Avery swaggered over towards the Slytherin table as if it was his birthright.

“Bayer, Nora!” called Dumbledore.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“Blackman, Elizabeth!” prompted Dumbledore causing a pale girl with braided brown hair walking towards the stool before placing the sorting hat down on her head.

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Bones, Glenn!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Bryant, Russell!”

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Tom watched as a few more students were sorted. There seemed to more students then he could ever imagine. At least thirty minutes passed before they got to the students with surnames starting in “h”.

“Harper, Ernest,” shouted Dumbledore, over the rumblings of students whining about wanting to get on with the feast.

“SLYTHERIN!” called the hat as Ernest Harper placed the hat on his head.

“Harris, Daniel!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Henderson, Jane,” called Dumbledore.

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Higgs, Malcolm!” called Dumbledore and a surly looking first year who was much bigger than Tom walked forwards. He picked up the hat before forcibly jamming it on his head.

“SLYTHERIN!” declared the hat.

Tom watched with anticipation, wondering if this sorting was going to end. The “h” students crept by, followed by the “i” students, “j” students, and so forth. Tom felt his head drooping forward before he forced himself to pay attention as the students with a surname starting with “m” began to get sorted. Soon Riddle would be coming up and then Tom would not have to pay attention to this tedious process much longer.”

“Magby, Sara” called Dumbledore as a girl with strawberry blond hair walked forward to the hat before placing it on her head.

“HUFFLEPUFF!” chanted the hat.

“McLaggen, Sydney!” called Dumbledore and a boy with light brown hair and a bit of a self centered expression on his face before strutting towards the hat and placing it on his head. The hat was on his head for a little over a minute before he seemed to decide what the best verdict was.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“Melville, Dorian!” prompted Dumbledore.

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Merrow, Marcus!”

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“Montague, Chandra!

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Mulciber, Joseph,” called Dumbledore as a dark haired boy calmly walked up to the sorting hat before sitting it on his head.

“SLYTHERIN!” declared the hat.

“Neil, Anthony,” called Dumbledore.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

The first years began to decrease from the large amount that arrived at the start of the sorting. Tom tapped his fingers on his leg for close to twenty to thirty minutes before the moment he had been waiting for occurred.

“Riddle, Tom!” shouted Dumbledore.

Tom wasted little time walking forward, ignoring the chattering around him. He lifted the sorting hat up before he calmly placed the hat on top of his head. The hat obscured Tom’s face as the students in the Great Hall

“Quite, the interesting mind we have,” muttered a voice in Tom’s ear. “My, you have a thirst to get a hold of any knowledge that is available. An admirable trait but one that has lead many down a slippery slope to darkness. Still your ambition is your most common trait, so you will do well in.....SLYTHERIN!”

The Slytherins clapped respectively as Tom walked over to the Slytherin table, sitting himself down towards the end as far from the other students as possible. Their were still about twenty students left after Tom and the sorting went on for about another fifteen minutes, ending with Yaxley, Robert being sorted into Gryffindor!

“I’ve noticed something interesting about that account of Riddle’s sorting,” remarked Harry slowly. “It’s amazing to see how many witches and wizards died during his reign of terror because there seemed to be close to a hundred and fifty students, give or take a few dozens. In my year, there were only about sixty or so students.”

“It’s about the same with my year, too” commented Ginny as Hailey nodded in agreement.

“Yes, they seemed to go down at a rapid pace since around the time of my second or third year at Hogwarts,” said Lily. “At first they were only slightly less than the numbers around Riddle’s first year, but once Voldemort’s reign of terror got into full swing, they lessened every year. In fact, around fifteen to twenty percent of my class at Hogwarts was murdered by Voldemort’s Death Eaters before they even left Hogwarts.”

“That’s really chilling, how the number of students at Hogwarts shrunk in only fifty years,” declared Leo darkly.

“Yes, but now Tom had been put in the Slytherin House, so the motion for the rise of Lord Voldemort had already been set, even through it wasn’t quite obvious for some time,” continued a female member of the Black Wand. “Riddle had his first formal interactions with his fellow classmates the night after the sorting.”

A few hours of the sorting feast, the large group of Slytherin first years stood without emotions on their face, waiting for further instructions. A blond seventh year boy walked into the dungeons, followed by a large rotund individual with a jovial look on his face.

“Greetings new Slytherins,” drawled the seventh year in a calm voice. “My name is Abraxas Malfoy, Head Boy, Slytherin House Leader, and heir to one of the most prestigious families in all of Wizarding Britain. The gentleman behind me is your Head of House and the professor whom will be teaching you the art of potion making. Professor Horace Slughorn!”

Slughorn gave a theatrical wave before turning to address the first year students.

“I first must offer my congratulations on being sorted into the noble Slytherin house,” remarked Slughorn. “Since the inception of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, many great students have come out of the Slytherin house, leading the Wizarding world to greater heights. I know of quite a few of you, as many of your parents have either attended Hogwarts when I was a student nearly forty years ago or even attended the earliest of my potions classes. I certainly hope you will do your families and the Slytherin house in general credit. By simply being sorted, you have proven that you have the ambition to do well.”

Slughorn walked over to the Slytherin first years one by one, talking to them briefly. Tom could not help but notice that each of them had powerful and influential families without the Wizarding communities. They were purebloods, old magical families with bloodlines going back at least five generations. Tom took a deep breath, as Slughorn advanced towards him.

“Tom Riddle,” muttered Slughorn checking his list. “I understand you are an orphan. Dumbledore told me your parents both died when you were young.”

“That’s right sir,” replied Tom calmly, a bit shaken at the fact that his father had apparently died as well, according to Dumbledore anyway.

“You have no idea of your heritage then,” continued Slughorn in a calm, even voice.

“Yes, Professor,” answered Tom respectively. “Of course I didn’t think much of heritage when I came here, I just came here willing to learn everything about magic I can.”

The fact that he didn’t care about heritage was a lie but Tom felt that it would be a lot easier to find out about his magical ancestors if no one knew that he was looking. He did not need anyone’s charity after all.

Still, his other classmates looked at Tom as if he had grown two heads.

“Ah, ambitious, aren’t we?” asked Slughorn happily. “An admirable trait for anyone who wishes to do well in the Slytherin house. Keep up this attitude Mr. Riddle, and you will do well in the Slytherin House. And indeed, if you wish to learn more about any subject, feel free to stop by my office. Not only do I have a large selection of many rare texts, but also I have many unique life experiences to share that may be beneficial.”

Tom nodded crisply as Slughorn consulted his watch.

“Merlin, I have to get going, Professor Dippet has called a late night staff meeting to address the rumors that Gridelwald may be expanding his operations further west,” muttered Slughorn before turning to Malfoy. “Abraxas, could you please make sure the first years know anything I might have inadvertently forgotten before showing them where they sleep.”

“Of course, Professor Slughorn,” replied Malfoy before Slughorn turned and walked from the Slytherin Common Room.

Abraxas Malfoy waited for Slughorn to leave before he turned to the Slytherin first years.

“All right listen up, most of you first years know this because your parents, or older siblings have been in this house, but as leader of the Slytherin House, it is my duty to remind you of certain unwritten house rules,” declared Malfoy. “The other houses loath us because they harbor resentment of the greatness of our noble heritage. We are to do whatever is necessary to make sure we maintain our steady hold on the house cup. If we must do it by what Gryffindors would call nefarious means, than so be it but do not get caught under any circumstances. I do not want any of you first years to tarnish the name of the Slytherin house. We have a reputation to uphold and it is my job as the Slytherin House leader to make sure you do not befoul that reputation. Understand.”

The first years nodded mutely in agreement.

“So to bed so you do not get off on the wrong foot by being late on your first day of classes,” ordered Malfoy in a cool voice. Tom slowly walked behind his fellow Slytherins but Malfoy called him back. “Riddle, a quick word before you head up to bed.”

Tom walked over to Malfoy cautiously, as the seventh year stared at him with a calculating expression.

“Orphan, let me make one thing perfectly clear to you,” said Malfoy. “I don’t care where you came from, but I do know one thing. You may not be a Mudblood because the sorting hat will not put a Mudblood into Slytherin but you are not pureblooded either as Riddle is not among the pureblooded lines. So, while you are above the Mudbloods that pollute this school, I would strongly suggest you know your place. You do have the potential to be great for the simple fact you were sorted into Slytherin, if you don’t make any crucial mistakes and raise the ire of the wrong people.”

Tom just nodded coolly before Malfoy waved his hand with a dismissive gesture. He took this as his cue to go up to bed.

Abraxas Malfoy wished that he had a couple more years at Hogwarts to observe Riddle closer, as he seemed to have the potential to be great. His father, who worked with Gridelwald as one of his closest advisors, suggested that he’d keep an eye on Hogwarts students that may be a help to the diabolical German dark wizard.

“So, that would be Draco Malfoy’s grandfather,” suggested Don coolly before elaborating. “Abraxas Malfoy.”

“Yes,” remarked Regulus.

“Malfoy’s great grandfather worked with…Gridelwald,” muttered Raph before turning to Harry. “Harry, didn’t you mention one time that Gridelwald was a dark wizard who was suspected to have ties with Hitler.”

“Correct,” replied Harry.

“More then suspected, as Gridelwald and Hitler were killed on the same time, by Albus Dumbledore I might add,” replied Regulus. “Hitler’s death was covered up by the Ministry of Magic, as they told the muggles it was a poisoning. But yes, those two were both out of their minds and killed many, so it was a match made in hell. Hitler would control the Muggle portion of European while Gridelwald would control the magical portion.”

“Wait, a minute!” exclaimed Sirius. “I could have sworn that Gridelwald was a muggleborn and thus wanted to kill all pureblood wizards, so why would he allow a pureblood such as Damon Malfoy to join him in an advisory capacity!”

“Very simple answer really, the fact that Gridelwald was actually the son of two squibs from two very ancient pureblood families in Germany,” explained Regulus. “They were rather enraged when they found out their son was magical, so they shut him off of the family fortune and forced him to leave. His reign of terror was just against squibs at first but a few select purebloods, craftily passing themselves off as muggleborns, managed to convince Gridelwald to wipe out pureblood families in Eastern Europe, mostly those who didn’t share a derogatory view towards muggleborns. The timing was right due to the unrest in the Muggle world and through circumstances that have been mostly lost, Hitler and Gridelwald came together. The rest you know.”

Regulus took a deep breath before another member of the Black Wand picked up.

“However, as we pick up the chronicles of You-Know-Who, we must point out that Tom was regarded as somewhat of a curiosity by his fellow first year students,” continued another member of the Black Wand. “Of course this was with mostly the Slytherins, who saw Tom as an unknown commodity. Many of the other houses, with a few notable exceptions, cared little about the affairs of the Slytherin house.”

“Even with this curiosity, there were still a few older students that were willing to step on Tom to ensure their rise to the top of the Slytherin house,” commented Regulus. “However, after a certain incident, they quickly backed off and in fact some of them became among the first Death Eaters when the Dark Lord began his ascent to power.”

“So Riddle,” remarked a hard faced looking fourth year boy with a smirk. “You fancy yourself showing off in case, acting like you know more than us. I wonder how much you cheated to learn all you do.”

“It’s called reading, Parkinson,” replied Tom coolly, who was now in his second year in Hogwarts. “Perhaps you should look into it, as you might find something that doesn’t make you look like a nitwit.”

“Riddle, I think you should learn some respect,” declared Parkinson as he turned to other fourth and fifth year students behind him before he raised his wand, backing off slightly to give enough room between himself and Tom. “SERPENSORITA!”

A large snake burst out of Parkinson’s wand and stood face to face with Tom.

“Stop!” hissed Tom in Parseltongue which caused the snake to look on curiously and the Slytherins behind him began to go pale. “Put a scare into them but do not bite.”

“Yes, master” hissed the snake before turning on the older Slytherins. They backed off slowly and one of them found his voice.

“R-r-r-idle, please, we didn’t know you could speak Parseltongue,” stammered one of the Slytherins as the snake raised up, its fangs bared. “Don’t be hasty, we we’re only…pulling your leg”

“Y-y-yes,” stuttered another Slytherin looking nearly petrified. “Please call him off. We promise we’ll never bother you again…”

“Back off,” hissed Tom calmly and the snake obeyed, curling up. Tom then turned to the Slytherins before continuing in a rather cold voice that would eventually become the trademark of Lord Voldemort. “A word of my abilities to Slughorn or anyone other teachers for that matter, the next time you wake up, there will be several dozen large snakes in your bed. Understand?”

The Slytherins nodded fearfully before backing off and leaving Tom alone with his thoughts. Tom smirked, as scaring those older students gave him a unique feeling over power that he felt he found he quite enjoyed. It wasn’t something that he would do often but if anyone stepped into his way, he knew he could terrify them by displaying Parseltongue.

Tom did however find it curious that wizards reacted to his gift with fear while the Muggles reacted to it with mostly ridicule.

“As you can see, Riddle is slipping further into darkness,” continued a member of the Black Wand. “This is the first time we know of that he has used some sort of deadly threat to force compliance through fear.”

“Riddle seemed like one of those who started out promising, but he took the wrong path down life, because of his thirst to have people respect him even through it was through fear,” commented Master Splinter wisely. “Sadly, there are cases where those with potential decide to take a path straight into darkness.”

“This was only just the beginning of Riddle’s descent as the most horrifying was yet to come,” continued Regulus calmly as if he was discussing the weather. “Being the rather intelligent child he was, he decided the best way to find out his aspects was to research to find out what magical families historically had the gift of Parseltongue. The search took quite some time but it finally paid off about halfway during Riddle’s fourth year.”

In the Hogwarts library, Tom Marvolo Riddle continued to thumb through another warn and quite dusty text called “Chronicles of Magical Families”. He had come to the conclusion that the identity of his ancestors had to be in here somewhere. He stopped about halfway through the tome, his tired eyes trained on the page.

The Gaunts:
Descended from Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunt family is a pureblooded clan that has lived in obscurity for many years and have all spoke the ancient snake language of Parseltongue. The once proud family has had their share of sorrow recently with the death of Marvolo Gaunt and his daughter Merope over the past fifteen years. Much like all descendents of Salazar Slytherin, they are gifted by being able to speak the snake language Parseltongue. The last known remaining member Morfin was released from Azkaban about six months ago, after serving a sentence for the brutal assault of a Muggle called Tom Riddle.*

Tom scrolled down to the bottom of the page where the asterisk was located.

*=unconfirmed reports stated that Merope Gaunt may have bared a child between her disappearance and subsequent death, but no concrete information has manifested to discredit the fact that Morfin Gaunt was the last known heir of the Gaunt family.

Tom closed the book, his eyes narrowed in anger. Everything seemed to fit, the fact that the Gaunts came into contact with a Muggle known as Tom Riddle, the same name as his reported father, the fact that Merope Gaunt disappeared with unconfirmed reports of giving birth to a child, and the most intangible fact was the fact that Gaunts had been known to have family members who spoke Parseltongue.

Tom felt that he had to be right, he had to be, all the clues fit in perfect alignment. Not only that, but he was descended from one of the power powerful wizards ever, Salazar Slytherin!

This gave Tom another thought. Dumbledore had to have known or at least suspected of his ancestry. Yet, when they met at the Orphanage, Dumbledore had basically told Tom that he knew nothing about his family. Dumbledore came across as rather smart, just a tad bit manipulative but Tom respected that greatly as there were times that he felt it was necessary to exercise manipulation to get people to show the proper respect. Still, that was no excuse for depriving an heir of the noble Salazar Slytherin of his heritage. Dumbledore had to have some deeper motivation but whatever it was, Tom didn’t care. It was his right to know who he was descended from and no Hogwarts professor was going to deprive him of that, even if he was tirelessly going up against the dark wizard Gridelwald.

He would show Dumbledore and the entire world the meaning of true power. Tom felt, rightfully so, that he was exceptional even without Hogwarts and the fact that the majority of the students of Hogwarts outside of the Slytherins barely acknowledged him was an insult to his power.

“Riddle came to one conclusion that day,” continued Regulus. “He wasn’t going to get the respect that he deserved by being Tom Marvolo Riddle. His path was set from that point forward the moment he found out he was an heir of Salazar Slytherin. He spent the rest of the year and the summer plotting, while beginning to formulate an identity that most would fear soon enough.”

“That’s when Tom began to refer to himself as Lord Voldemort,” muttered Harry darkly

“Yes, of course, and the first round of attacks when the Dark Lord discovered the Chamber of Secrets was the undisputed first act under his new name,” continued Regulus. “Thanks to his control of the basilisk, six muggleborns were petrified with the Dark Lord wanting to create an atmosphere of fear throughout Hogwarts. His various associates, who we should note were not his friends, felt uneasy at times but the fact that they feared retaliation from Riddle, they didn’t speak up. Perhaps if they did, Tom Marvolo Riddle would not have been as violent as he was but then again he may have. We may never know.”

“Riddle may have just outright killed them or turned the basilisk on them, through,” said Leo in a reasonable voice.

“No, he might not have killed them yet due to the influential position of many of their fathers but there are certain creative ways he liked to make people who disagreed with him, pay,” continued Regulus. “And, the last thing the Dark Lord wanted was a death, as there would have been a good chance that Hogwarts would have shut down and he intended to tap into many of the secrets that Hogwarts had to offer for his own gain.”

“A death did happen, through,” said Ginny darkly. “Moaning Myrtle.”

“I was just getting to that point, as Myrtle was an accident, the Dark Lord never wanted her to die, but she unfortunately looked right into the deadly glare of the basilisk,” said Regulus in an impatient voice. “That caused Tom to backtrack rather quickly, he ceased the attacks quickly and found a scapegoat. Fortune did favor the Dark Lord on his night as the basilisk wasn’t the only dangerous creature in Hogwarts at the time.”

“That would be Hagrid’s pet acromantula Aragog,” said Lily frowning, remembering what Harry told her about his second year at Hogwarts. “Of course, I think this was one case where Voldemort was counting on the Ministry not looking deeply into this matter as if they had the matter researched, they would know to an acromantula would not be able to petrify the students.”

“The Ministry didn’t care about the facts obviously, they just wanted to find someone to blame and since the accused beast belonged to a half giant, the Ministry jumped on the opportunity,” said Remus.

“No matter what the Ministry thought, the Dark Lord managed to get Hagrid expelled but not before he managed to stash his acromantula in the forest,” replied Regulus. “The school remained open and the Ministry really didn’t investigate in any farther, having found their suspect. Dumbledore, for his own reasons, interjected to keep Hagrid from being sent to Azkaban.”

“Yes, Dumbledore would have seized an opportunity like this to gain someone’s trust, but only if he could find a benefit,” replied Sirius in a disgusted voice.

“Quite, dear brother,” replied Regulus. “Tom decided it was too dangerous to open the Chamber as Dumbledore did in fact suspect his involvement in the whole scandal but chose to do nothing for whatever reason. Tom managed to find a resource on the creation of Horcruxes and the potential of being able to cheat death fascinated the Dark Lord and it also presented an opportunity to create an artifact that would allow the opening of the Chamber of Secrets later on. One element was missing, the fact that Tom needed to kill someone to split his soul and incase a part of it within a Horcrux."

Over the past fifteen years, the Gaunt residence fell into more despair. It looked as if the slightest wind would topple the run down shack to the ground.

Voldemort walked down the path towards the Gaunt house with a look that showed no expression. He had managed to slip away from the Orphanage in the evening. Walking up to the door, Voldemort pushed it open, allowing the sixteen year old wizard to step through the doorway. On the floor, dozens empty firewhiskey bottles were scattered around, along with a few moldy, half eaten sandwiches.

“Who dares intrude!” hissed a wicked voice in Parseltongue and Voldemort stared into the kitchen to see a filthy man with ratty hair and nearly all of his teeth missing staring at him. He had a half full firewhiskey bottle in his hand and he looked quite drunk. He took in Tom’s features. “How dare you come back to this house, you filthy flea ridden Muggle!”

Morfin Gaunt raised the firewhiskey bottle, a large ring visible on his hand and looked seconds away from busting it over Voldemort’s head. Voldemort lazily flicked his wand and the bottle busted into hundreds of pieces of glass. Morfin yelped for looking at the wand.

“Now that I’ve got your attention,” hissed Voldemort in Parseltongue. “I’d like to speak to you.”

“You’re not Riddle then,” muttered Morfin. “You are a wizard, and a Parseltongue at that and…”

“What happened to Tom Riddle?” asked Voldemort in a calm voice.

“Well after my filthy slut of a sister decided to dishonor us by running off with him, he left the area for a couple of years but he came back just shortly after I was released from Azkaban,” replied Morfin in Parseltongue. “An unfair sentence, as I should have been awarded an Order of Merlin for hexing a pompous self serving…”

“Riddle’s back?” hissed Voldemort. “I am correct to say that he is not far from here.”

“Across the valley, in the big manor house,” replied Morfin. “He still rides by this house sometimes, bold enough after corrupting my sister, making her dishonor our family but it’s over and…”

“Imperio!” hissed Voldemort. Morfin Gaunt found himself put under the Imperius Curse. “You will remain right here, not moving until I return.”

Morfin nodded in a robotic matter as Voldemort took his leave from the house before making his way up the pathway and moving across the valley quickly. He looked up and gazed upon Riddle manor. He double checked to make sure no one caught him coming in before using his wand to open the gates along with a silencing charm to muffle the creaks in the gate. Voldemort strode up the walkway, with his wand raised before he used an unlocking charm to cause the door to click open.

Walking through the doorway and shutting the door behind him, Voldemort made his way down the long winding hallway until the sound of voices caught his interest, coming from the sitting room of Riddle manor. An unlocking charm allowed Voldemort entry and he saw two elderly Muggles along with a third Muggle in his late thirties who looked rather similar to Voldemort. They were dressed in extravagant Muggle clothes but Voldemort didn’t pay too much attention to the fashion as he raised his wand, before he whipped his wand around shooting sinister looking black ropes out of it. The black ropes wrapped around the two elderly Muggles, trapping them.

“Who are you?” asked Tom Riddle, as he looked at the sinister looking black haired boy that had trapped his two parents who gave a shriek but at this sign of movement, the ropes began to tighten even more. In fact, it seemed with every breath they took, the ropes grew tighter like a python until a loud snap echoed throughout the manor and the two elderly Riddles fell to the ground, crushed to death in less than a minute. Riddle looked at his now dead parents with a look that had a mixture of fear and confusion.

“Farewell…Dad,” replied Voldemort coldly as he pointed his wand at his father who looked like a dear in the headlights. “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

Riddle landed on the ground, dead. Voldemort reached into the pocket of his robes, before taking out an ordinary looking diary before pointing his wand at the door leading to the sitting room and casting a Muggle repelling charm. He took out the diary, and began to cast the rituals necessary to create his Horcrux. After that process was completed, he would dispose any evidence of the way he killed his grandparents. Then Voldemort planned on planting false memories into the head of Morfin Gaunt and swipe his ring, because Voldemort felt it was his by divine right due to being a proper wizard heir of Slytherin and not a filthy drunk living in his own filthy.

“Why didn’t Voldemort just use the Killing Curse on all three Riddles?” asked Mikey. “I mean, there could have been a chance that his false memories might not have worked and there could have been evidence….”

“He would have under normal circumstances but he only needed one Killing Curse murder to create the Horcrux. Three of them could have led to three distinct splits and the Horcrux could not have had the power the Dark Lord intended it to have,” said Regulus. “Of course, while the soul splits for a time, if it isn’t removed and placed in a Horcrux, it does reunify eventually. A murder is a rather temporary split and is somewhat evil, but actually going through with creating a Horcrux is an act of supreme evil.”

“And Voldemort had no hesitations of creating a Horcrux when he was just sixteen,” said Harry in a disgusted voice, amazed at how fast Voldemort turned from ambitious to evil.

“Yes, but as you found out, one Horcrux wouldn’t have been enough for someone like the Dark Lord,” said Regulus. “His thirst for true power would not stop at the magic boosts that one Horcrux would give him. Somehow he had to find out if there was a potential for more. He decided to try and determine if there was a possibility from this by asking the opinion of the teacher had had the most respect for, Horace Slughorn.”

Voldemort watched as several sixth and seven year Slytherins took their leave from a meeting with their Head of House, Professor Slughorn. He made sure all of them were out of an earshot before turning to Slughorn with a slightly calculating expression on his face that he wiped off his face when the Slytherin House head gave him his full attention.

“Tom, it would be a good idea for you to head up to bed, after all it would reflect badly on you as a prefect if you were caught up after hours,” said Slughorn in a fatherly voice.

“Professor, I would like to ask you something before I head up to bed,” said Voldemort in a calm voice.

“Ask away then, Tom, I’ve always told you that I’m here to help,” said Slughorn.

“Do you know anything about Horcruxes?” asked Voldemort

Slughorn’s eyebrows rose at the question but he gave his large head a mighty shake.

“Horcruxes, eh,” replied Slughorn before looking at Tom. “Defense Against the Dark Arts project, yes.”

“Of course, sir,” replied Voldemort smoothly. “I came across them but the book was rather unclear what exactly they do.”

“Well that’s a very complex subject, I’m not sure where to begin,” said Slughorn before smirking, offering Tom to sit down. “Horcruxes are very rare dark magical artifacts that contain a portion of the soul of a witch or wizard. They have been known to increase the powers of those attempting to make them along with what can be only described as immortality but they come with a high price. Not only do they have to be created with an act of pure evil, that is a ruthless murder, but the creation of them can go wrong.”

“Exactly how so, sir?” prompted Voldemort.

“There have been accounts of wizards attempting to create these foul artifacts having been blown to pieces in the rituals to make them,” said Slughorn in a somber voice. “Even if a Horcrux was completed successful, disastrous effects on the wizard’s physical apperence and sanity can take place. It is not magic to be done lightly as it has gone completely wrong so many times and I don’t think it has gone completely right more than once or twice.”

“So, if one Horcrux is powerful surely more can yield even more success should it go right,” said Voldemort coolly, as if he was discussing a potential theory. “Like, for instance, if you split your soul into seven distinct pieces, and incase six of the pieces into Horcruxes successfully, the power would be something undreamed of.”

“Merlin, Tom, seven pieces!” yelled Slughorn in a horrified voice. “That is unheard of, not that it cannot be done but since one Horcrux can lead to disastrous consequences, multiple Horcruxes, on the off chance they are created, could cause a person to become a completely insane killer, without any emotions whatsoever.”

Slughorn took a deep breath before turning to Tom.

“This is all hypothetical of course,” continued Slughorn weakly.

“Absolutely Professor,” replied Voldemort in a reassuring voice.

“Good, but it would be unwise to continue this line of discussing at this time as such discussion is forbidden at Hogwarts and it could lead to some uneasy questions for the both of us with the likes of Dumbledore,” replied Slughorn. “Understand.”

“Of course,” replied Voldemort, who had what he needed. Slughorn had told him that it was possible to create multiple Horcruxes, just not recommended. Still, Voldemort did not plan on following the recommendations of others. On the contrary he played by his own set of rules.

“I can’t believe Slughorn didn’t see through what Voldemort was trying to get out of him,” said Lily, who thought better of the man who was one of her favorite teachers when she went to Hogwarts.

“You forget one important thing through,” said Regulus smoothly. “During his time at Hogwarts, Riddle was one of the most charming students and managed to win the hearts of many of the teachers.”

“But not Dumbledore,” said Harry with a smirk. “He saw through all of Riddle’s manipulations, well of course he would considering you can’t beat someone who has been playing that particular game for years using his own methods.”

“Dumbledore could have gotten Riddle kicked out at any time because it certainly seemed he suspected him,” replied Ginny frowning. “Dumbledore could have done it, because even then he had quite a few people following what he was saying.”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” replied Harry as if that solved everything.

“Yes, for whatever reason, Dumbledore didn’t cut off Riddle at the knees when he could of,” said the gruff voiced member of the Black Wand. “That turned out to be a major headache for Dumbledore in the end but that was still to come.”

“The Dark Lord’s final two years at Hogwarts passed rather quietly and he passed at the top of his year, getting nothing less than an Exceeds Expectations on his N.E.W.Ts,” continued Regulus. “Many who didn’t know better thought Riddle was on to great things at the Ministry. However, a few weeks after he left Hogwarts, he applied for a job at Borgin and Burkes.”

“A shop, that if I’m not mistaken, has the rarest and in some case, darkest, magical artifacts, if I’m not mistaken, so there would be some deeper motive involved,” said Master Splinter.

“A deeper motive indeed, as Tom seemed motivated to create more Horcruxes to add to the one from the murder of his father,” continued Regulus. “Since his job was to buy artifacts for the shop so Burkes, the owner at that time, could sell them back to others for an inflated price, it created a perfect opportunity to locate artifacts tied to the founders of Hogwarts to create Horcruxes that would fit someone of the status of the Dark Lord.”