Chapter One - Tom Riddle and Albus Dumbledore

Tom sat outside the great oak door. There was no reason for him to stand at
attention like a student to be scolded and wait on Dumbledore while his legs tired.
So he transfigured one of the desks into a large throne, from which he could look
down on the man once he came to the door. Tom had also transfigured another
desk into a large, very dramatic looking hourglass. To emphasize to Dumbledore
that he was well aware he was being made to wait on purpose. This was the
transfiguration classroom after all, and this was Dumbledore.
He would likely be briefly impressed at the detail in his transfigurations, and laugh
off the subtle messages Tom was trying to send, instead focusing on the new
technique Tom had just used to weave the stairs into a flowing, moving, yet steady
stream of black iron. He specifically crafted it special to grab the mans attention,
and change their first interaction from a negative to a positive right from the start;
it didnt seem like a bad idea. Transfiguration was one of the old mans passions, as
it happened; Tom was also very interested, and talented in transfiguration. It was
one of the few things they had in common, many times Tom had come to this office,
in truth to ask about a certain fundamental principal, and learn from the man. He
was however also using these personal lessons to build the mans trust, and slowly
learn his potent magics, any secrets he could squeeze out of the wise old man.
More importantly, the trust would work towards earning him a place among the staff
one day. It was working, though not nearly as well as Tom had thought it would, but
there was no denying that the man had some level of trust, and respect for Tom, at
least when it came to this particular subject. Tom knew this because he had been
allowed to, first of all, learn of the existence of Dumbledores Top Secret High Tech
Transfiguration Lab, and second, to actually go in, learn from the man, and try his
own experiments on a few occasions. Other teachers had told him that he was the
first student to ever even know that room existed in this castle.
Tom did not like Albus Dumbledore. He did however respect the man, on a certain
level. Since Tom is not stupid, he also had a healthy level of fear of a man capable
of wielding the types of magic Dumbledore could. As far as teachers went,
Dumbledore was extremely competent. His transfiguration classes were actually
entertaining on occasion, and unlike most of the other teachers, he wouldnt frown
on Tom trying to disprove something from the book. Nor would he try to limit Tom
to the standard curriculum. If Tom was quite capable of the days lesson, he was
free to take a more advanced book and go practice in the corner, Dumbledore would
even come over to give him advice. As much as Tom disliked, yet respected the old
man, he was sure the feeling was mutual. Dumbledore would never dare try to
hinder somebodys potential, and could only respect the ambition and aptitude Tom
showed with magic already, at his age. One of two things had to be true then, the
old is putting so much extra time into trying to mentor Tom, because he truly

respects the potential and wants to be his mysterious old wizard. Or, the man may
have a better insight into Toms real thoughts and ideas then he suspected, and the
Friendly lessons and chats were actually Dumbledores way of keeping an eye on
Tom, or even keeping him in check if need be. Tom still was unsure, probably a little
of both, the man was very hard to read.
The door to the back office opened, and the old man was standing there, with a
disappointed frown on his face, which made it easy to read, he was clearly annoyed.
Tom learned you had to do something truly terribly to make the man truly angry. He
had never seen the dreaded Angry Albus Dumbledore, but he had heard of the
intensity of it. With a quick gesture from Dumbledores wand Toms transfigurations
were undone, and Tom was floated gently down, to prevent the 5 foot fall, the result
of the high throne changing back to a desk. Tom hated that, it was so
condescending, as though the man thought Tom a child who wasnt capable of
catching himself. That was a message too, as far as Tom could tell. Dumbledore
always at least started off amiable and friendly in their talks, even if he suspected
Tom of some mischief. It always started with some lame attempt at humor and
light chit chat. This time he was certainly more than annoyed with Tom, and was
going to get straight to the point, whatever that may be. Tom hadnt done anything
particularly noteworthy since the last time they spoke; he was unsure why
Dumbledore was acting the authority this time. As he was being led into the inner
office he thought about any yet uncovered plots this might be concerning, and he
realized at once. It had been at least a week since he had last made the house
elves confess if they had betrayed him or not.
Dumbledores personal office was a place of great power, even within this ancient
magic castle. The large oak door alone would be intimidating to a lesser person. It
radiated power, and Tom could easily detect 4-6 wards around the office on any
given day, and feel the edges of dozens more. He was quite sure he would be
unable to break through that door if he had too, even with the most potent magic
currently available to him. It slammed behind him as he walked in, and clicked
loudly, despite there being no actual lock, or knob for that matter. Tom made it to
his chair first, and made to sit down, but there was an invisible barrier around it and
he couldnt touch it. Dumbledore was across the room in a few long strides, and
took a seat in his own chair. Only then did Tom feel the ward on the chair dissipate,
the man wasnt even trying to be subtle. As Tom sat he noticed the old man had his
dark wand sitting out on the desk, not pointing directly at Tom, but in the general
direction, inches from the mans grasp. There could be another message there, but
knowing Dumbledore it could be anything from, If you can snatch it and overtake
me, I will not oppose you. Or he could be trying to stress the fact that he could kill
Tom where he sat, before Tom could even flick his wrist and have his own wand
appear in his hand. There could be no message there at all, perhaps thats just
where the man keeps it for practicalitys sake, but Tom liked to try and find the
hidden meaning in every action a person made in his presence.

Dumbledore looked at him, with those blue eyes. They used to have a piercing
quality to them at times. Tom knew full well what that was, and couldnt allow it.
Dumbledore must have picked up on Toms occlumency training. He had been
extraordinarily subtle about it, he hadnt wanted the man to know Tom was on his
way to becoming a perfect occlumens. He had planned to use Dumbledores own
legilimency against him, feed him an innocent, but misunderstood Tom Riddle, one
of the ways he planned to gain the mans trust. It failed however, if those eyes no
longer tried to pierce his mind, Dumbledore now knew Tom was hiding his true
thoughts from him. There was a certain trust that could never be shared, from that
point unfortunately. Tell me Tom Dumbledore said, with no hint of his normal
cheer, What exactly have you done to the house elves? Tom put an innocent,
ignorant face on, and replied, Why, nothing sir. Nothing really, Ive had them tend
to a few extra tasks, but that is what they live for sir. Dumbledore was not moved.
I know it goes further that Tom Dumbledore was growing sterner by the moment.
Ill have you know, I personally consider the elves to be esteemed Hogwarts staff,
as much as myself. I do not take kindly to students playing games with them for
their own amusement. The man was half right, anyways. He was a fool to
consider them anything but slaves, but Tom was only using them for his
amusement, at the moment. He was still building their loyalty and testing their
limits.
Tom spent many late nights in his private dorm, a privilege only granted to him
because he stayed at Hogwarts all year, and it just made sense. He stayed up late,
reading books, when most of the castle slept. As a result, he had become,
friendly with the house elf who goes by the name Truuey. Truuey was assigned
to Toms personal chamber, to keep it fresh and clean. Tom asked who had
assigned him to his particular room, and the elf told him nobody assigned anything.
The elves just knew what needed to be done and came to mutual agreements on
the assigning of tasks. From there, Tom had reasoned with the elf, that he as a
Hogwarts servant, bound particularly to Tom, should follow his explicit orders, as if
law. It didnt take much convincing; the house elves werent very intelligent
creatures. From there he also reasoned with the elf, that things would be more
efficiently run, if there was a Head House Elf, who delegated responsibilitys, and
punishments to all the other elves, in an intelligent, organized way. He compared it
to the way wizards do things, and the elf seemed to like the idea after a little
coaxing. It only took a few days, and a few motivational speeches and tips until
Truuey was more or less the dictator which all the other house elves followed with
absolute loyalty. House elves were surprisingly agreeable, even given their
reputation. It only took a week for them to accept and adapt to a global change in
an 800 year old system. That was impressive, even by Toms ridiculously high
standards. Since Truuey was absolutely loyal to Tom, he basically had total control
of the entire Hogwarts house elf faction, and their strange magical constrictions
basically made it easy for Tom to program in a near unbeatable system of silence.
Near unbeatable because the elves bound to Hogwarts had to answer to the

Headmaster above all. However, you could trick them into sorts of vows, where
only if asked specific questions could they tell even the headmaster the answers to
those questions, and very specific answers, and nothing else related to it. House elf
magic was rather odd and specific.
He so far he had only been giving commands that would cause general confusion
and disorder on a small scale, to further particular plots. Or just generally use
covert means to harass the people he disliked, just two days ago he had the elves
remove the bedding from 3 different peoples beds, and replace it with the itchy
type you cant get comfortable in. Building an army took time, he had to start
small, and go unnoticed, and he apparently failed terribly at the second part.
Dumbledore broke him out of thought, Tom, I demand you stop any and all
interaction with the house elves from here on out, this is not negotiable. If you have
a certain need, my door is always open to you, and I can see it taken care of. You
are under no circumstances to issue orders of any type to any of the elves. Have I
made myself clear on this matter? Dumbledore stared at him for a long moment.
Yes sir. Tom forced out, he was annoyed about this. There was a great deal of
power to be had in the school if you can wield the house elves cleverly. I
understand Professor, it was probably wrong of me to ask them to take on even
more work, on top of everything else they have to do. He paused to look down at
the desk, as though he was ashamed, he looked up and continued, I simply had
them doing things like fetching materials for experiments, sending messages to
people involved, bringing me food at odd hours while I study. That type of thing.
Dumbledore looked halfway satisfied with that answer. You may go then Tom, it is
getting late. The powerful door behind him clicked again and swung open. Tom
got up and started to walk out, he heard professor Dumbledore behind him say, I
did like the extra detail you put into the stairs on your throne by the way. It looked
very complicated, and extremely comfortable. Tom looked back, and the man had
regained a little of his regular cheeriness. Tom simply nodded at him and walked
out.
As he headed back to his dorm he reflected on the loss. An army of unseen soldiers
running around the school at night, doing his bidding was certainly a huge loss. He
could have slowly, over the years used them as one of many factors in completely
taking over the school. As far as he understood, once the elves developed a deep
enough pattern of following his specific orders as a master, they would be bond to
him nearly as much as the Headmaster. There is pretty much nothing they wont do
in his service if he can trick them into thinking they are accomplishing something
else, once they get to that point.
What did I fail to consider? I missed something if it went wrong so quickly. Tom
wasnt used to a thought out plan coming undone so quickly and spectacularly. He
had taken care to use specific words and phrases while talking to Tuuey, and the elf
would have repeated him exactly to the underlings which were similarly bound. It

would have taken a very specific line of questioning for them to reveal they were
taking orders from Tom.
The merfolk, and the centaurs, were basically the police of the lake and forest, Tom
knew for a fact Dumbledore spoke with them regularly. He actually had assumed
Dumbledore would speak with the cleaning and cooking staff as well, but there
was no reason the old meddler should have started asking the right questions like,
Did Tom Riddle take you into his service, Tuuey? Did Tom Riddle ask you to take
over the kitchen, Tuuey? That would be the only way to confirm it, with the elves
strange code of confidence. Then again, in retrospect, the reformation was rather
fast, Tom should have played it out for a year or two before taking total control. It
must have been obvious enough to take note of a plot, if somebody was paying
attention, which Tom hadnt even thought of. There was also Dumbledores bizarre
empathy towards the creatures. Tom didnt think of that at all, the house elves were
acting generally the same as normal, cheery, ready for work. Perhaps a little tired,
overworked, as Tom would never take one out of regular rotation, and disrupt
regular tasks. He would use the ones who were currently allotted their required
resting time as an end to his means so as to not attract attention. There is no way
Tom would have ever considered somebody would take notice of the lowly
creatures, subtle well-being. That was ridiculous, Tom had to wonder how exactly
the mind of Albus Dumbledore worked.