The Dark Lord's Rose - A Tom Riddle Love Story

Part I - Happy Holidays

December 21, 1943

Tom walked through the empty halls of Hogwarts, passing only one or two students on his way to the library. He very much enjoyed the peace and quiet, but wished that Rose could be there with him. It had only been four days since she went home for the winter holidays and he already longed to see her again.

His mind traveled back to the sensation of her lips against his face, a memory he had already replayed innumerable times. It was all he could think of in their last Potions lesson; he had tried fervently to read her emotions the entire class period, but she was as nonchalant as usual. He felt a nasty feeling in his stomach while thinking back to this; surely her indifference signified a nail in the coffin of his hopes to become much more to her.

Still, while he knew it was irrational and most certainly detrimental to his mental health, he couldn't conceive of simply giving up his pursuit. Never before had he been enthralled by a person; thinking of her had become his addiction, an unbreakable habit. He knew that Rose wasn't just a phase that he could shrug off and move on from. As such, it was clear that he needed to change his strategy on how he was approaching her, but he had no idea where to start.

The only way he could distract himself from her now that she was away for the holidays was by pouring over thousands of pages in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library. Entrance into the guarded section of the library was the best part of becoming a sixth year student, in Tom's opinion. He had learned of so many subjects that he yearned to incorporate into his magical repertoire, but he found that legilimency and horcruxes were by far the most intriguing. He had met with Professor Slughorn earlier in the year about the latter, long before his daily distractions in the form of Rosemary Horton.

It felt pleasant to resume his research into after nearly two months of entertaining his obsession with her, but knew that the reprieve would be short-lived. As soon as he returned to his Slytherin dormitory, he would spend the rest of the evening fantasizing about her until falling asleep with a feeling of indescribable, hopeless optimism.

Tom spent the entire day at the library, only deciding to quit reading when he couldn't overcome the hunger pangs in his stomach. After going down to the Great Hall for dinner and seeing only five or six other Hogwarts students, he returned to the dungeons to see that Slughorn's office door was propped open.

Tom stopped and poked his head inside and Professor Slughorn noticed him right away. "Ah, do come in Tom! I'm just packing up to leave for the holidays now that I've finished all my grading. Don't worry, you did excellently on your exam!"

Tom wasn't worried about his grade, of course. There had been very few times that he genuinely questioned his performance on an exam or term paper. He went inside and stood near the fireplace as Slughorn continued to gather his things. Tom figured that it was a good time to bring up something that had been nagging at him for quite some time. "Professor, when does the selection for Head Boy and Head Girl occur?"

Slughorn gave him a warm smile. Tom had made his ambitious nature readily apparent over the years, so his professor surely knew where the conversation would be headed. "Usually the selection committee meets in mid-April and will try to let the students know by May before the end of the term."

"I see," Tom nodded. "And what exactly does the committee look for in an applicant?"

"Well, there is a preference given to current prefects. High marks are also expected and it helps if they are involved in some sort of activities outside of class and regularly participate in events that Hogwarts hosts for the students."

Everything sounded fine until the last part. Tom absolutely loathed attending any sort of Hogwarts social event, including Quidditch matches. The only reason he had gone to any of them that term was so that he could catch a glimpse of Rosemary; when she was dating Markus, she often sat in the Slytherin section to cheer for him.