Modification || T. Riddle || Completed

Chapter 8: The Bloodline

Chapter 8: The Bloodline

After Estela's odd incident with Tom Riddle and his gang of cronies, she went back to an empty Common Room and sat in her favourite chair in front of the fire. She started thinking about Tom and his profoundly complicated personality. Why wasn't he being himself? Why did he act so charming and innocent when there was obviously something darker lurking behind his well-built image of the perfect student?

Estela tried to picture Tom in the future, when he would supposedly cause havoc in the Wizarding World. She just couldn't see it. Yes, there was something shady about Riddle, but Estela couldn't imagine him becoming a monster. Though that night in the girl's bathroom was quite frightening. She wanted to know more. She wanted to get to know the real Tom Riddle, not his façade.

He was interested in her, for what reason she wasn't quite sure, but she knew she must use that interest to her own advantage. She knew she shouldn't wait any longer to start on her task. Now was the time to start changing Tom Riddle. She stared into the blistering fire as the tongues of orange danced around, as she thought of a plan.

***

Tom Riddle was sitting in an empty classroom, reading the same old book he had been reading since the first day of term. He drank the words like they were liquid knowledge, but as he sat in a shadowed corner of the library, distancing himself from everyone else, he couldn't for the life of him figure out the words.

"My Lord, you called for me?" Abraxas Malfoy said as he shut the door behind him and made his way towards Riddle.

Riddle closed his book with a snap and stuffed it into his bag, before he pulled out a frail looking piece of parchment – yellow and torn with age. With a wave of his hand, the parchment floated through the air towards Malfoy who caught it with ease.

"What's this?" he asked, pulling the parchment closer towards his pale, pointed face.

The page appeared to have been ripped from a book – a very old one at that – and had words written in an old language that Malfoy could not understand. But there were diagrams that he could just about make out: they seemed to be an eagle and a then a full body portrait of an austere-looking woman.

"Rowena Ravenclaw?" Asked Malfoy.

"Indeed," Riddle mused. "One of the cleverest and most skilled witches the world has ever seen, and a founder of this school."

Malfoy made his way towards Riddle and took a seat opposite him. "What's her significance?"

"Is your mind really that dense?" Riddle said, rolling his eyes. "Well, as you know, I have a certain... connection with Hogwarts and its founders. And I have reason to believe that another student does, too."

Malfoy furrowed his brow. "You mean to say there is another descendent? Of Ravenclaw?"

Riddle nodded. "It's possible, and it would explain a lot."

"But who?"

Riddle nodded his head towards the parchment still within Malfoy's grasp. "You see the portrait of Rowena? Take a closer look at her dress, and take particular note of a certain accessory pinned to it."

Malfoy squinted down at the image. "The gemstone? What about it?"

"We saw it not but a few hours ago. In the possession of a fellow student."

Malfoy's brows rose. "Markorp?" He blurted in disbelief. "You think it was the same gemstone?"

"Not just the same gemstone, but the same dress that Rowena can be seen wearing in that image – along with several other depictions of her littered throughout the history books."