Stolen Time A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter Thirty-five

Ten years later, 1981

Tom returned to his lair in the late afternoon, when his gaze fell on a piece of parchment that lay crumpled next to the fireplace. He furrowed his brow and stared at the paper for an instant before he drew his wand and flicked it at the crumpled piece. The sheet soared into the air and smoothed itself out. It was empty.

Tom slowly walked closer, muttering different incantations under his breath, trying to make the parchment show its content.

None of them worked.

He looked at the paper for another moment before following on a sudden impulse. He carefully cut his hand with his wand and let his blood drip on the empty sheet. Then he healed the wound and watched the parchment expectantly.

Slowly a neat handwriting started to appear. It immediately caught his eye. It was his own handwriting.

Tom felt a hint of excitement in the pit of his stomach. He threw a closer look at the note. There were a place and a date written on the paper. Forbidden Forest, November 2nd, 1981.

Tom frowned. He stared at the writing for another moment. Then he went to his armchair and sat down.

It was almost two months until November 2nd. And yet he had to admit that he felt excited thinking about the adventure that lay ahead. It was finally going to happen, he was going to switch places with his other self.

Involuntarily, a memory popped into his mind. He leaned back in his chair, reluctantly recalling the promise he had made so many years ago.

He pressed his lips together. He had spent months searching for her, he had done everything he could think of to try and find her, but all his effort had been in vain.

At first he had signalled her through the mark, countless times, but she had never reacted, not even once. He had tried it until, finally, he had had to accept that obviously she didn't want to respond.

Subsequently he had tried every locating spell he had ever heard of. But she had given him no chance, and none of them had worked.
Even the enchantment he had put on her mark had been of no help. It had not been activated once in all those years, and while he knew that, luckily, this meant that she had never been in any severe danger, he had still regretted that, thus, he hadn't been able to find her.

At least, with her gone, there had been nothing left to stop him. He had smashed the revolutionary movement, violently and mercilessly, once again securing his power and ensuring that the world succumbed to his order.

Tom looked back at the note in his hand. He flicked his wand at the paper and sent it flying into the fireplace, lighting it with a nonverbal Incendio. Leaning forward, he propped up his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his hands, absentmindedly watching the flames.

After a moment the flames slowly started rearranging themselves. Tom sat up straight and furrowed his brows.

The flames were clearly forming the image of a house. He stared at the fire, unconsciously holding his breath. Following on a sudden intuition, he flicked his wand at the shelf behind him and summoned a map of the British Isles. He caught the map and walked closer to the fire. Sparks flew out of the fireplace and burned a hole into the map.

Tom narrowed his eyes, memorizing the location. Then he threw the map into the flames and watched it burn to ashes.

Tom stowed his wand, looking at the fire for another moment. There remained no trace of the previous happenings.

Taking a deep breath, Tom made up his mind, grabbed his cloak and left the room, disapparating to the place he had been shown on the map.

He reappeared at the coast, in the vicinity of a cosy cottage. His gaze lingered on the house for a long moment. It was the house he had seen in the flames. It looked warm and inviting. He cocked his head.