We've all heard the story: conceived under the love potion, unable to love and all of that. But is it true? Did Voldemort really never had a heart, or perhaps it was simply frozen, inaccessible to use? Lights, camera, action! Dive into the 1940s, an...
Christmas break was an especially glum time for Tom Riddle, although he enjoyed the absolute serenity of Slytherin common room, being the only student from his house who stayed at Hogwarts. Slughorn had left for the holidays, therefore, Tom couldn't question him about horcruxes. The library was endless, and to find any information related to the Chamber of Secrets proved to be a far more complicated ordeal than anticipated. Long story short, nothing went the way he wanted during those Christmas. Another oddity, and Tom couldn't be sure it was pleasant, was that he received a present for his birthday. In few last years he had begun to get birthday and Christmas presents from his knights, usually books, stationery or some magical artifacts, but this present was from Norma and he was sure he had never told her his birthday date. Which meant that she had either asked his knights, but they hadn't told him anything, so if they weren't stupid, that means she didn't ask them. How did she acquire his birthday date? And for what reason? Even the gift itself was strange- a black book with blank pages. Definitely muggle (and that infuriated him to no end), it was probably supposed to be a diary. Tom wanted to hurl it to the rubbish bin, but felt strangely transfixed by the odd gift. More so, when he flipped the pages, a note fell out. Written in simple, almost childish script it said:
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And he hadn't told her his chosen middle name either. No one had, probably. And that ominous statement, 'I know'- she always implied she knew everything about him, although she had never asked and he had never told her anything. It made him feel exceptionally uneasy and insecure. On top of everything, Norma's writing infuriated him too- so messy, almost boyish, as if she didn't put any effort into writing a greeting card. He could only wonder what unreadable mess was in her class notes. Tom almost shuddered and crumpled the piece of paper in his hand, but without realising it, he didn't throw the paper away, but harshly showed it between the pages and put the journal in the drawer of his nightstand.
A few days after holidays, Abraxas joined him in the corridor. Tom forgot he was staring at Norma (her face was slightly tanned, he noted) with almost furious expression, until Malfoy cleared his throat and he woke up.
"I have news," said Malfoy.
Tom turned to him. Abraxas had his eyes fixed on Norma's back.
"She's definitely not pureblood. I've checked the records, even asked my father. Skapo family had never existed among wizards."
Tom clicked his tongue, now watching Norma again.
"We have a little liar over here," he said almost to himself. Then, not fully understanding why, he added, "Don't spread the news for now."
Abraxas looked puzzled.
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
The urge to catch Norma alone was unbearable now. She was hiding a lot, for unknown reasons, she annoyed him to no end... at this point Tom couldn't even think of why she was his nemesis- he was so angry his brain stopped working when it came to Norma. His chance finally came when he was doing patrol rounds a few days later and spotted the girl carefully heading towards the stairs leading to the dungeons. It was obvious she was being careful about getting caught- it was well past the curfew, but where had she been so long?
