Invictus [Tom Riddle / Tomione]

The Eye

Tom heard Hermione's words echoing in his head.

I love you too, Tom. But I won't be controlled by you.

He recalled her words in the journal. They scrolled back and forth like a marquee behind his eyes.

I hate you.

Incapable of love.

You killed my friends.

No one capable of love would do the things you've done.

Tom gritted his teeth.

The issue was that he was trying.

But it wasn't enough. Because something must be wrong with him.

He'd never thought that way before. He'd been thoroughly convinced that something was wrong with the rest of society... that they lacked ambition and drive. They lacked conviction and commitment to their purposes.

But he was beginning to realize he had caused pain.

He saw it from afar, in a detached way. As if he were staring from an aerial perspective, into a snow globe at a city that was burning. Tip it over and the ash flies around and flutters to the ground.

He'd caused it, but he had no emotional attachment to it.

He did, however, have an emotional attachment to Hermione.

Her pain made him sick. To think that he'd caused it... that there might be irreparable damage done to her life and heart as a result of his actions...

He suddenly felt like an orphan again. Unsure of himself.

He remembered when he first arrived at Hogwarts. He'd been ridiculed for everything under the sun. For his shabby robes. For the orphanage where he'd grown up. For his muggle habits. For his thievery. He was called a mudblood, particularly by his own housemates. He was treated as lower than dirt at Hogwarts until he'd discovered his maternal lineage. Edward Rosier had been his first friend, and he'd been the first person Tom told...

... that he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin.

Slowly, one by one, they each came around.

Before, they had hated him for his magical prowess.

After, they said it was only fitting. He was the heir of Salazar Slytherin, after all, one of the greatest wizards to ever live.

Tom had told them to keep it quiet.

Truthfully, it had gone to his head a bit.

He'd gone from a contemptible orphan to the celebrity of Slytherin House overnight.

It hadn't been enough for him. When he discovered the legend about the Chamber of Secrets, Tom dedicated his time to finding it.

He'd spent night after night, dreaming about what the monster could be.

Then, he learned about Herpo the Foul. The curriculum was rather dull and barely skimmed the surface of the dark wizard's life, so Tom volunteered at the library in order to gain access to the restricted section.

There, he found Secrets of the Darkest Art, and the Tales of Dark Wizards. It was then that he learned about horcruxes, and Herpo's basilisk. When he discovered that both Slytherin and Herpo could speak to snakes, a genetic trait, he knew then that he was descended from them both.

Then he surmised the monster was a basilisk.

After that, it was all too easy to locate the chamber... which is just as Salazar had intended it.