Stolen Time A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter Four

Tom reappeared on a meadow near the cliffs at the coast. He wasn't quite sure why he had come here of all places but somehow it had been the first location that had come to his mind when apparating away from Cassiopeia.

He let his gaze wander over the landscape. Not far away from where he was standing a narrow path led down the cliffs. Without seeing where it ended Tom knew it wound all the way down to a small cove with a beach. When the tide was low this cove was connected to another one a little to the left.

A sneer crossed his face. He remembered the first time he had been there, so many years ago. It had been another life then. He had explored that hidden cove that was only reachable through waist deep water at low tide. None of the other children of the orphanage had dared to go there and he had relished not having to see their disgusting faces and endure their mean behaviour for a whole day. He remembered how he had discovered the entrance to a cave behind a lot of rocks and how excited he had been to go in there.

Ever since he had found that cave he had looked forward to their annual daytrip to the coast. The older he had got the more exciting it had been. It had been the one and only place where he had been able to try his magic without risking having to face Mrs. Cole's ill temper. Of course, back then he hadn't known it was magic he was performing. He clenched his fist as a wave of anger rolled through his body at the thought of his mother leaving him to rot at this wretched Muggle orphanage. She had been a witch, for Merlin's sake. If she hadn't been able to manage to stay alive she could at least have given birth to him at some place in the wizarding world instead of dumping him, the heir of Salazar Slytherin among all those filthy Muggle kids. A contemptuous smirk appeared on Tom's face. At least he had been able to pay them back for how they had done him wrong.

He remembered the two younger kids that had followed him to the secret cove one year. At first he had tried to scare them away, wanting to be alone. But as they had kept following him, he had changed his intentions and had lured them to the cave. It had been the perfect opportunity to try and see if his abilities also worked on humans. A wicked grin flickered across his lips. It had doubtlessly been the best afternoon of his up to then so miserable life. His magic had already been strong then. Retrospectively he knew he had had unusually good control over his magic for a wizard his age. The curses had worked amazingly even though he had not even truly known what he had been doing. He had thoroughly enjoyed the time in the cave, with this amazing power inside of him. Tom smiled at the memory.

Of course, it had been a little troublesome to get the two kids back to the main beach without attracting attention, especially given the fact that they were suddenly no longer mentally stable and refused to speak at all, though the latter had certainly been advantageous for him. He had had to use all his manipulative powers and all his skills in acting and lying to make up a convincing story about what had happened. Yet everybody had bought his lie. Only Dumbledore had been suspicious when he had come to the orphanage that summer and Mrs. Cole had told him about the incidents that had happened when Tom was around. A cold glint shot through Tom's eyes. Fortunately, Dumbledore wouldn't be able to ever mistrust him again. With the memory of Dumbledore Tom's thoughts finally returned to the recent events that had made him come here in the first place. While he had been absorbed in his memories he had strolled down to the ocean and found himself standing in front of the cave once again. He sat down on a rock and watched the waves splashing against the cliffs. He definitely needed to get his thoughts straight.

He recalled the memory Cassiopeia had shared with him. He didn't understand how he could have been so oblivious. Back then in Albania he had spied on the mind of every single wizard they had consorted with, and Floris had been no exception. Yet Floris' ambitions concerning time travel had completely escaped his notice and he had known nothing about it. Tom's eyes narrowed. Obviously Floris had been unusually skilled at Occlumency.