In Horace Slughorn's defence, he couldn't have known that all this would happen. All he had wanted to do was play match-maker between his two favourite students, Tom Riddle and Artemis Potter.
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--------------------> TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE stared at the potion vial in his hand, lightly drawing circles on it with his thumb. It was the Felix Felicis, most commonly known as the luck potion, and he had won it. The amount of liquid in the vial would be perfect for twelve hours of good luck, and Tom knew what he wanted to use it for. He wanted to find his origin. His legacy.
Ever since Artemis Potter had informed him of Marvolo Gaunt, Tom was certain that he was his grandfather. After all, they shared the same name. The story of Merope eloping with a muggle also made perfect sense as to why he carried a muggle surname.
Tom remembered when he had been little and had asked the matron of the orphanage if she knew anything about his parents. The matron had just twisted her lips into something ugly and told him that his mother had died during childbirth (which was why he had previously falsely assumed that his mother had been the muggle, refusing to believe that a person capable of magic was so weak) and that her dying wish had been to name him Tom after his father and Marvolo after her father.
Tom was a half-blood, born of a pureblood mother and a muggle father. It disgusted him.
Still, he wished to know more about his magical family, so he turned to the library and began soaking up every bit of information about the Gaunt's that he could find in books and like Artemis had mentioned, the line of the House of Gaunt traced back to the great Salazar Slytherin himself, only solidifying his unofficial parentity test.
After all, Tom, like Salazar, could speak to snakes and Tom, like Salazar, was incredibly brilliant.
He was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Tom felt as if he were on cloud nine.
After that revelation, Tom threw himself into every book that so much as contained a mention of Salazar Slytherin and it was when he was re-reading Hogwarts: A History, did he come across a rather interesting topic.
The Chamber of Secrets.
Built by his ancestor in a secret location and contained a fearsome beast which would only obey the Heir of Slytherin, for the purpose of eradicating this most noble school of those with very impure blood.
As Salazar's heir, it was only proper that Tom finished what his ancestor started.
He observed the potion in his hand once more, watching as it's molten golden colour shone brightly under the lights.
This was a prize, a beautiful and rare one, so Tom needed to be careful about how he used this and what he used it for.
In the end, he decided to drink a quarter of the liquid, which would give him about three hours of good luck. That should do it. Removing the cork, he drank a part of the liquid in a single gulp, closing his eyes as he felt the effects of the potion sink in.
And when Tom opened his eyes, he was more confident than ever before. Nothing bad could happen to him in these hours, especially considering the ever-fickle Lady Fortuna herself was on his side.
