How Tom got his Name

Untitled Part 1

A little Ravenclaw girl named Sydney Lee was skipping down the isle in the library. She had a Potions essay due in a couple of days and she wanted to get a head start on it. Her parents were both muggles so this was all so new to her. She had no idea where to even begin to look for information on her essay. She could barely pronounce the name of the potion!

She made it to the end of the isle when she saw a boy wearing Slytherin robes with his books spread across the table. He was furiously writing on a piece of parchment and then scratching it out. 

She was about to go back the way she came when she saw the badge pinned to the front of his robes. It was the Head Boy badge. 

She had read that the Heads were supposed to help the students become accustomed to Hogwarts. Surely that meant that he'd help her with her Potions essay!

Coming to a decision, Sydney walked over to the chair next to his, pulled it out, and sat next to him. 

His hand tightened around his quill until his knuckles were white. 

"Go away." he muttered darkly before returning to his piece of parchment and ignoring the eleven year old girl. 

She pouted a bit at the clear dismissal and leaned over his arm to get a better look at whatever it is he was writing. 

Survivor of Death 

The Horseman

Salazar's Heir

Lord ?

"What're you doing?" she asked in a faux innocent voice. She had learned from a very young age that the key to getting what she wanted is to annoy and nag them until they tell her just so that she'd go away. 

He sighed in exasperation, but passed the sheet to Sydney. 

"I am attempting to create a new name that will strike fear into the hearts of men." 

The small girl looked up at the boy that was a good three and a half feet taller then her. 

"Ok."

The Head Boy looked at her in disbelief. 

"That doesn't scare you? At all!"

She shrugged her shoulders. It didn't seem like a big deal. 

"I have an older brother." she said, as if that was a completely logical and reasonable answer. 

She looked at the sheet. 

"Whats your full name?" she asked. 

The boy was still staring at her shocked. 

"Pardon?"

She huffed and crossed her arms. 

"Your full name? You know first, middle, last."

His eyes narrowed. 

"And do tell, why would I tell you?"

He would never admit it, but the way she was grinning frightened him a bit. 

"Well you could either tell me and I will leave you alone or you don't tell me and I'll follow you around everywhere like a lost puppy!" she answered brightly. 

He stared at the girl flabbergasted. The only thought going through his mind was 'How is this girl not in Slytherin?'

He grabbed the parchment and quickly scribbled down his name. 

Tom Marvolo Riddle

Sydney studied the name for a few minutes. 

"Well all of the names you've come up with so far have a common theme, death. It looks like you want to evade it so that needs to be incorporated."

She cocked her head to the side as she thought. 

"I think you should do an anagram of your full name. You can make Lord, and I think I have something for you to use for the other letters." she said. 

She reached into her bag by her feet and pulled out a thick book and began to leaf through it. Tom managed to get a glimpse of the title. 

"You just carry around a French dictionary all the time?" he drawled. 

"Of course not." she said as she seemed to have found what sh ewas looking for. "Sometimes I carry around a Latin dictionary."

She pointed at a word. 

"The French term for 'flight from death' is vol de la mort. If you take out the la you have the remaining letters of your name. If you put it together you have Lord Voldemort." she said. 

'That answers my question about Slytherin.' Tom thought. 

"Lord Voldemort." he said, trying it out. "Perfect."

Sydney grinned at Tom as she packed up her bag. 

"See ya Voldie." she said as she skipped out of the library. She could always start her essay tomorrow.