~ F A L T E R ~ Tom Marvolo Riddle x Reader

W e l c o m e T o H o g w a r t s

I took a deep breath, letting my lungs fully fill with air as I rubbed my eyes gently with my hands, letting them go through my hair on the way back up. Opening my eyes again carefully taking in my surroundings, it was morning time, not night. Hogwarts still looked familiar, which gave me a feeling of safety. Another deep breath before walking out from the corner I was hiding in.

Once I rounded the corner, I bumped into someone. "Sorry I wasn't looking where I was going" I quickly said before looking up at the person standing in front of me, surprised as my eyes landed on the familiar facial features of Dumbledore, slightly younger. "That's quite alright" he said and gave me a warm smile. It was weird seeing him now. "I cannot remember seeing you here before, though you look awfully familiar" he cleared his throat "Are you a new student perhaps?" He asked and gave me a suspicious look up and down once.

"I am, indeed. New here, for my sixth year, I took my five first year's at The Durmstrang Institute. Merlin, please tell me you got the letter from Igor Karkaroff, you know that I was coming. I'm y/n Stark" I lied hoping it was convincing enough, as I was a truly bad liar. Seemed like I was in luck. "Ah I see, I haven't received such a message, maybe it got lost by an owl. Nonetheless welcome to Hogwarts, I am Headmaster Albus Dumbledore" he said as he started walking, quite quickly and waved me towards the direction he was going. I followed him, jogging at first to catch up with him.

"Let's get you sorted first Miss Stark, the first years bout to be finished I suppose, we will be there just in... time" he reassured as we walked quite fast towards the great Hall. He was acting strange, but knowing Dumbledore I just ignored it.

He opened the big doors to reveal the Great Hall. It looked almost the same, the ceiling was bewitched as in my time, but with a daylight sky with big fluffy clouds and blue skies, instead of a starry night sky, which i was used to. There was obviously a lot of unfamiliar faces, it felt very weird looking at them as I walked through the hall, used to seeing my brother, his friends and my friends. I took a quick look towards the Gryffindor table hoping to catch a glimpse of mom and dad, without luck. One of the reasons for my decision to say yes, was even though it was selfish to maybe meet and get to know my parents...

Everyone got quiet as Dumbledore marched between the tables me following him like a confused duckling.
"Minerva, we have another new student, sixth year, help her get her sorted, please." He asked, and a much younger Minerva McGonagall than I was used to nodded in agreement. I walked a bit closer, and she smiled "what's your name dear?" She almost whispered. Which made me whisper back "Uhm, I'm y/n... y/n Stark".

"Alright" her voice louder, she then cleared her throat to make sure everyone heard her. "We have one more student to sort, y/n Stark" she said and gestured me to come up and sit down on the chair next to her. And so, I did. I was much more nervous about the sorting now than I was back as a 13-year-old. I felt all my body parts stiffen as I sat down.

Minerva carefully placed the hat onto my head and took one step away. I took a deep breath, "Ah, this is quite easy indeed" the hat said confidently. The last time I got sorted took the hat quite a long time to figure out where to put me, but it sounded more confident now. "The ambition, cunning, cleverness, no doubt in my mind, SLYTHERIN" it said, and I took a breath out in relief. I had grown much more into the Slytherin characteristics now than i was back then, Slytherin had indeed helped me in the direction it was supposed to.

 
Step one finished, Slytherin was my house already, so I knew what to expect from the people in the house, and I also knew Tom Riddle was in Slytherin which made it easier to get close to him.

As I walked towards the table, Slytherin students started cheering, I noticed the uniforms were slightly different than they were in my time. Other than that, everything seemed just like they used to be, they all had a judgmental look at me when I came closer, and no one gave me a 'real' smile. So far everything was much more familiar and normal than I expected, literally going back in time to when my parents went here.