Beauty and the Beast

epilogue

January 27, 1999

Hermione Granger walked to the Potions classroom, where a now much older Professor Slughorn was dusting in his office. "Professor?" She asked. "I know it still might be too early... but may I ask about... erm... Tom Riddle?" Hermione walked into the office and sat down. "I suppose so. Just curiousity, I assume?" Slughorn asked his student. She merely nodded. Miss Granger asked, "What was he like?" The teacher told the teenager few stories about the boy who became the Dark Lord. He took a picture out of a box and set it on the desk. It was the one of Tom and his girlfriend enjoying grape soda. "That is Samantha Lou Dalton. Born... er... February... of 1927. She was Mr. Riddle's lover during her time. Samantha was the one who kept him sane. She married the man and was to have a child, I believe, when she was murdered by another dark wizard, competing for power. After she died, Tom went out to kill her murderer... but didn't stop with him, unfortunately. He was about to leave behind his life or darkness, but decided to return to it after he had 'no reason to stay good'."

"Do you think if she had lived, and his kid been born, that he would've withheld his dark side?" Hermione asked. Slughorn thought for a minute. "Probably. Samantha was probably the only love he ever knew. And his own father abandoned him, so he'd probably want to be a better father than his old man," the professor answered.

"If I may ask, what was Samantha like?"

"Miss Dalton was similar to you in a few ways. She was the most intelligent witch in her year. She always had a plan and was willing to do anything for her friends. But she also would fight for anything she believed in. She knew Hagrid didn't open the chamber somehow and begged the headmaster to let him back in. Like your two friends, she played quidditch. She was quite excellent, you may have read about her in a book once. She might've become one of the best of all time if she hadn't died." Hermione gave a nod. She was intrigued by the fact that someone so... unloveable... was once loved.

Hermione then set out to Hagrid's new hut. She knocked on the door politely. The half-giant came over and opened the door. "Ello there, Hermione! What brings you 'ere?" He greeted.

"Well, um. If I may ask about an older student during your time. Samantha Dalton..." the girl asked.

"Come on in, sit yer self down," Hagrid instructed, waving her in. He closed the door after the student was in and sat down at his table. "Samantha Dalton... she was a highly respectable young lady. All the teachers liked 'er. A few professors' favorite. Miss Dalton was the prefect of Slytherin in 'er last three years, and I was told she was Head Girl in 'er last year too. Sam had er good heart, unlike 'er vile boyfren'. There's some ol' film of 'er playing in 'The Downfall of the Chudley Cannons'. Which is er film on tape. Documenar'ry. As you may know, der team has not done well in many years. Why are ya asking?"

"There's a History of Magic project where we research a former Hogwarts student taught or known by one of the current professors," Hermione explained. "Originally, I was going to do Voldemort, to understand why he was so determined to kill Harry, but I think Samantha will be a more interesting story."

Hermione filled out her project after watching the film on an old style film projector.

"Samantha Lou Dalton was an ordinary Hogwarts alumna who made a big difference in the start of the dark ages of wizard world. She was born on Valentine's day of 1927 to a muggle mother and a wizard father, who was the assistant coach of the Chudley Cannons at the time. Sam received training in Quidditch almost her whole life. The girl had a little sister at the age of 7. When she was eleven years old, Samantha met Tom Riddle (Voldemort) on the train to school that year and allowed him to sit in the same compartment. Both sorted into Slytherin, a friendship blossomed between them. In their sixth year, Tom managed to open the chamber of secrets and hide it from his friend, who became his girlfriend later that year. Both of them were prefects. Rubeus Hagrid was framed by Tom for the crime, but Samantha did not believe it was him and pleaded to let the third year back, but her pleas were not enough. The next year, she became Head Girl. Dalton went on to play Quidditch professionally for the Chudley Cannons, who have not had a playoff season since spring of 1949, when they won the title. At that point, Samantha was married to Riddle and had already scheduled that she would be a reserve for next season, due to the fact that she was early in pregnancy at the end of her last season. But she did not know that she would be murdered on October 8, 1949 by Adam Carlsen, two years after he had a dispute with the woman's husband. Her death was small, but impacted the entire wizarding world. It drove Tom Riddle off the brink, leading him to become Voldemort and live a life of darkness."

Meanwhile...

"Can I come back now?" Tom begged his wife. Samantha rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'm still mad at you. How could you do such heartless things?" She replied. "I was going to say four more months, but your endless begging was getting annoying." He had spent the last several months in the Azkaban of the afterlife. It was much more grueling than the original, but they were in for less time, since it to moves slower there. And for the last months after he had been released, Samantha had not allowed him to be with her. The woman sighed as she looked at her old husband. "I have someone you have to meet," she told the wizard. A girl, who appeared to be 22 came down the steps. "Dad?" She spoke. Tom was confused. "Love, we were not going to have a son. The doctor got the gender wrong. It's a girl. This is our daughter, Millicent Taika Riddle," Sam explained. "But she was given the ability by the Afterlife Council to change her age, since she was never born and being pregnant for eternity did not sound necessarily fun."

Before she hugged Tom, Millicent told him, "Just so you know, I'm mad at you for killing all those people." The brunette hugged her father. "I've a changed man, I assure you. I was wrong in my ways. I've been told it a million times," Tom admitted. The young lady let go then shifted to a five year old girl and stood by her mother. The only problem with age-shifting was that your brain had to be the size of your age, so Millicent's vocabulary was now limited, but her memories were always intact, no matter what. "Mommy, hold me," the girl asked her mother. Samantha picked her daughter up. The child shifted into a baby and reached her arms to Tom. The father interacted with his only kid. "Samantha, I am sorry. If anyone is responsible for your death, it is me. The truth is... I fought your murderer a few years before he killed you. He wouldn't have hurt you if I hadn't been so stupid."

"I accept your apology, Tom. I forgive you."