The Beginning of the End ? Tom Riddle

A/N : SPECIAL! TOMS POV

" It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life." I read the last bit of the final story in the book, The Tale of the Three Brothers.

Ignotus Peverell was a fool, willingly giving into Death when one could escape it for eternity. The other two while more ambitious, lacked cleverness and met the same fate.

I would not be making that mistake.

Slamming the book shut I turned over to Isla, who I found asleep. She was curled up against a pillow, fiery hair covering some of her face. Subconsciously, I reached over and gently brushed her hair back behind her ear with my fingers.

Snapping back, I yanked my hand away and grimaced at my actions. It was all wrong. I wasn't built for emotional connections, I can't even recall a time before her that I'd ever had problems with it.

I often lost my composure over it, more than I'd like to admit. And as time went on it only got worse. I would not let anything get in the way of my plans. One fiery redhead could not stop me.

Finalizing my decision I decided I had to make the horcrux now rather than later. Standing abruptly to put the book away and leave, I must have disturbed Isla. I stilled as she stirred, flipping over and readjusting so she was facing me.

My eyes lingered on her sleeping form before I peeled them away and quietly walked to the bookshelf. After putting the book back in its spot, I strode out of the Gryffindor common room as silently as possible.

I made my way to my dormitory in the dungeons, and reached under my bed for the diary. Grasping the leather-bound pages I re-opened the door and strode off to the Chamber of Secrets with haste.

Performing the spell in the Chamber was the safest place to do it, seeing as I could not be disturbed for no one knew of its location. I stopped in my tracks.

Isla knew. I shook my head with a grunt and continued on. The girl was clever and cunning, I'll give her that. Sometimes I think she would have made a good fit in Slytherin. Recalling my first year, I realized she was the hatstall that occurred in the sorting ceremony.

~
A tall, thin girl with long red hair walked up the steps and sat with confidence as the entire hall watched her.  The sorting hat didn't even speak for the first two and a half minutes, deep in thought.

" My my. Isla Hildegard, pureblood, relative of many powerful witches and wizards. Very difficult, yes, very difficult..." the hat trailed off.

" Isn't your job to make a decision and put me in a house?" She spoke to which the hat chuckled lowly.

" Not very patient I see, fitting to Gryffindor who's often bold and rash, jumping into things head first. But you're also very clever, you're a bit of a strategist, fitting Ravenclaws ideals. You have an unusually kind and understanding heart, loyal and protective as they come, much like the badger that adorns the Hufflepuff crest. Yet you are very sly and cunning, you crave power and success, and have an ego constantly fighting to prove itself. There's no doubt you'd do very well in Slytherin..." the hat voiced its many thoughts.

Students and teachers alike sat on the edge of their seats, waiting for a final decision to be made. It appeared the girl was to be the first hatstall in recorded history of the school.

The thing about the newly dubbed 'hatstall' was the Sorting hat had to be stuck between where to place a witch or wizard for over five minutes, which was unusually longer than average.

" But where to put you?" The hat spoke up after another minute of deliberations. The girl rolled her eyes, ready to wrap things up.

"Out of curiosity, what's your wand made of?" The hat asked as the girls lips formed a proud smirk.

" Elder wood and Phoenix feather, 15 inches long, rigid flexibility." She stated clearly with confidence as onlookers gasped and broke into whispers, gawking at the rarity of such a wand.

" Interesting, interesting indeed..." the hat trailed off as if it knew something no one else did. A dark haired, blue eyed boy at the Slytherin table's brows furrowed, racking his brain for the answer he seeked.

" Better be... GRYFFINDOR!!!" The hat proclaimed
after a full six minutes of deciding. The Gryffindor table roared with cheers and claps as the girl stood with a grin and glided down the steps to join her house at last.

Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and teachers clapped for the girl, though most of Slytherin sat sourly, disappointed in having lost such a unique witch to their rival house.
~

To be honest I'm not sure how I didn't come to that conclusion earlier. Isla Hildegard was extremely complex. No wonder that old hat struggled to place her in just one house.

" Heshahasa" I commanded the door open in parseltongue before striding down the walkway, water and snakes lining each side.

Pulling out the parchment that held the notes from the book " Secrets of the Darkest Art" I got ahold of in the restricted section, I took a deep breath as I read the incantation that translated to 'cut off dark soul'.

Taking a deep breath and wishing for my success I pulled the diary from my robe pocket and set it on the damp floor in front of me. I cast a quick imperturbable charm around myself as to insure no noise would seep into wandering ears.

"Abscindere tenebris meam." I cast the spell, pointing my wand directly at my chest. My eyes widened as I began to feel a agonizing rip in my chest, as if I was being physically cut. Grunting I kept my wand on my chest as to not break the spell or make any disastrous mistakes that I could not afford.

The pain only worsened, becoming indescribable to any other. Letting out a yell I fell to my knees, forcing myself to continue. Looking down to my chest I saw the last bit of damaged soul being ripped from my being. The black, cloudy substance floated in my wands control, a dangerous sheen emitting from it.

I struggled to retain my breathing as my vision began to blur. I used my wand to guide part of my soul into the diary, a bright glow radiated from it as the pages flipped open vigorously. The light dimmed until it disappeared completely, and I knew I had succeeded.

My fate was sealed. I was immortal. And the creation of the horcrux would insure that I could not feel anymore human emotion that made ordinary folks weak. On top of being conceived under a love potion and lacking ability to feel love, I was finally safe to focus on my plans.

Lacking any energy to celebrate my triumph of dark magic I let my body collide with the floor and my eyes to flutter close...