this is my submission for the underdoggos one shot competition for june. not sure if ol' tommy boi counts as an "underrated character," but this idea was too cool not to do.
┋┊prompt: don't try and shut me out of this. i'm more a part of this than you are.┊┋
┋┊plans change┊┋
┊tom riddle┊
┊word count: 1928┊
┊tags: Ejmcmoon kalypsowolfe┊
┋┊one person could make him
f e e l something,
no matter how
f a i n t the feeling
was┊┋
┋┊☆┊┋
Even the darkest wizards had light in their life at one point or another. He was no exception.
Before becoming a wizard so terrifying that people couldn't bring themselves to utter his name, he was Tom Riddle, a sad little boy in an orphanage. He had nowhere to go, no one to love, and almost no good in his heart. As the product of a love potion, his emotions and feelings were imbalanced, making him almost incapable of real love.
Almost.
There was one person in his life who had his ear—one person who could make him feel something, no matter how faint the feeling was.
Her name was Miranda Nagini, and she was his closest companion. Everything about her looked as if it would contrast to Tom, but they were more alike than anyone cared to realize. Beneath her think blonde curls and sparkling green eyes, she was just as sinister as he was.
Both dawning the green robes of Slytherin, they stayed awake in his dorm late at night. His dorm mates didn't have the guts to ask her to leave, and after a loud boy was cursed by Tom after making a suggestive comment about the two, they all remained silent while Miranda and Tom were together.
"I found something interesting the other day," she told him one night in his dorm. "My family crest."
On a piece of parchment, a scribble of a skull with a snake twirled around the base of it. The head of the snake poked over the top of the skull, its long tongue pointed to the front of the image.
"That is magnificent," Tom told her, running his finger down the parchment. He stood up, walking meaninglessly towards the window that overlooked the Black Lake, and she followed behind him, in sync with his every step.
"Do you think it could work?" she asked hopefully, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking at the image with her head rested near his ear.
He looked at it with a critical eye, and a soft hum vibrated in his throat. "With a few alterations, this will do marvelously."
"When I first saw it," she said, "I thought it would appear more eye catching if the snake was sliding through the eye of the skull or even the mouth."
Tom smirked at her. "Nagini, you certainly have an eye for style," he praised. The two of them sat down on the edge of his bed, discussing the image. Being artistically inclined, the Slytherin boy was able to reform the image in front of Miranda's very eyes. "I do believe we've got the mark finalized," he said. "This mark will be on the forearm of all of my supporters."
"Our supporters, Riddle," Miranda teasingly reminded him.
After a short pause and a sideways glance, Tom nodded. "My mistake," he corrected, standing up. "You should get some rest, Nagini. We've got a long afternoon in the library planned tomorrow."
