Poison A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter One - Secrets

It was early November 1941. The new term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was already about two months old, and the students had settled in again. The teachers gave them a good share of homework, and everything was going as it was supposed to go.

Cassiopeia Houlton was in her fourth year at Hogwarts. She was a quiet girl who tended to be on her own most of the time. She was studious and shy but also very attentive to her surroundings. She knew the others thought her to be a bore. Although she would have preferred to belong to the chattering crowd of classmates, she simply didn't know how. Interacting with others didn't come easy to her.

Currently, she was sitting in the library, the place she loved most. She had chosen a table in the far corner, very close to the restricted section. Students very rarely passed these last rows of books as it was forbidden to roam the restricted section unless a teacher had given permission. Cassiopeia liked this quite deserted part of the library where she could sit and read books for hours without being disturbed. Today she had chosen a book on non-verbal enchantments. Outside the weather was rainy, and it was not at all inviting to go out on the grounds. She had been reading for nearly two hours and had gotten tired. Cassiopeia closed her book and eyed the row of books that was visible from her seat. At first there was no action at all. But then Tom Riddle entered the row, seemingly looking for a specific volume he wanted to read.

Riddle was a Slytherin and the brightest and most powerful student Cassiopeia had ever met. Riddle was the boy almost every girl at Hogwarts had a crush on. He was undeniably good looking, always polite and brilliant in every subject. In his presence girls regularly started to giggle, hoping he would grace them with one of his stunning smiles. Cassiopeia had to admit that she also liked to be around him. At the start of every term she found herself hoping that Ravenclaw and Slytherin shared as many classes as possible so she would see Riddle in class. He had something about him that made him special. She couldn't quite tell what it was, but he radiated a power that was fascinating. Magic simply seemed to come naturally to him. Cassiopeia suspected that for many spells he actually didn't even need a wand but simply used the wand to keep a low profile. Cassiopeia had never talked to Riddle in all her three years at Hogwarts, and she wasn't sure if he even knew she existed, but to her it was sufficient. The crackling power around him reminded her of the possibilities that lay within magic. Whenever they shared classes with the Slytherins, Cassiopeia was elated. To her, classes were considerably more fun with Riddle being part of them. He set the bar high, and being the studious introvert she was, Cassiopeia always accepted that as an internal challenge for her to give her best. She didn't quite know if it was in hope that someday he might actually acknowledge her in class, but either way it was advantageous for her grades. Although she didn't manage to ever best him in class because magic simply kept coming naturally to him in a way that she knew she would never achieve, she was aware that he kept bringing the best out of her, even though he didn't know.

Curious as to why he was having such an impact on her, Cassiopeia had paid increasingly more attention to Riddle over the years. She had noticed that often, despite delivering top work, he still seemed to hold back, not showing the full potential that lay within his power. Sometimes, there would be a minimal delay in brandishing the wand when he probably didn't even need it in order to get the spell working or a slightly mumbled incantation when he actually could do it non-verbally. The more she had observed his behaviour the more she had been astonished to find that the handsome, polite and charming model-student wasn't as genuine as he pretended to be. Sometimes she had the impression that he tired of the politeness and charm he exhibited as if it wasn't as much a part of his personality as he pretended, because although Riddle always was so politely charming towards the teachers and so politely indifferent towards the other students, Cassiopeia couldn't help but feel that all of that was only an act to cover the feeling she could sense underneath – pure loathing. She had always wondered why that was.