Megan Potter - A Saga of the Heart - Book 6 - Dark Temptation-

Chapter 30 - Fateful encounter

The room was bare, and very minimalist. Small, with nothing but a bed with a chipped metal frame and austere, ugly brown sheets. There was a wooden closet against the wall, and a small window on the far end of the room. Tom was sitting on his bed reading.

"Good day, Tom."

He looked up. Dumbledore held out his hand. Tom looked at him and shook it, though he looked wary.

"I'm Professor Dumbledore."

"Is that like doctor? Did she send you to look at me?"

"Oh, no, I'm nothing like that." Dumbledore said. "I work at a school called Hogwarts. I am here to offer you a place there."

Tom jumped up.

"I'm not stupid! You're from the asylum, aren't you? Well, I'm not going! I never did anything to Amy Benson or Dennis Bishop! I'm not going!"

"I am not from the asylum," Dumbledore said patiently. "I am a teacher. Please, if you'll sit down, we can discuss this reasonably. I can tell you about Hogwarts and you can decide what you want to do. If you prefer not to come, that is fine. It's your decision."

Tom waited.

"Hogwarts is a school for people with special abilities."

"I'm not mad!"

"I know you're not. It is not a school for mad people. It is a school of magic."

Tom's face clearly showed he was fighting to show no emotion. But his eyes were too bright with interest. He was far more intrigued than he wanted to show.

"Magic...?" he whispered.

"Magic," Dumbledore said.

Megan looked at the boy. Even as a child, she could see the dark emotionless eyes. Well... maybe not emotionless, exactly... but they had no life, no warmth in them. That was it. And it was seriously weird to see such eyes in such a young person. But then, it was Voldemort. His very conception was twisted. How could any baby grow normally when they were born from artificial love and abandoned less than an hour after their mother delivered?

"So... magic is what I can do?"

"What is that?"

"All sorts of things," he said, excitement in his eyes now. "I move things without touching them, I make animals do what I want, hurt people who annoy me..."

The glee in his eyes was very eerie in Megan's opinion. She shuddered as he looked down at his trembling hands.

"I knew I wasn't like the rest of them..." he said wonderingly. "I always knew I was more... That I was special..."

"Well, you were quite right," Dumbledore said. "You are what is known as a wizard."

His smile was gone, he was eyeing Riddle intently. His wild happiness gave him an almost bestial look. Megan shuddered but didn't look away.

"Are you a wizard, too?"

"I am."

"Prove it," he ordered.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

"If you accept your place at Hogwarts, you will address me as "Professor" or "sir"."

His face hardened for a fleeting moment, and then, he spoke in that composed, polite manner he'd done as a teenager.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't intend to be rude. I meant: could you please show me?"

Megan thought Dumbledore would refuse, say there would be plenty of time for that at school, that there were a lot of Muggles and they should be careful. But to her surprise, he drew his wand and flicked it at the wardrobe, which burst into flames. Megan was startled, but Tom gasped and jumped back in alarm. Just as suddenly, the flames vanished, leaving the wardrobe unharmed. Tom looked at Dumbledore with wide eyes.