In Horace Slughorn's defence, he couldn't have known that all this would happen. All he had wanted to do was play match-maker between his two favourite students, Tom Riddle and Artemis Potter.
...
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---------------------> PROFESSOR SLUGHORN HAD GIVEN THEM A FREE PERIOD that day. The official reason he had voice aloud was that since they were scheduled to take their O.W.Ls in hardly a month's time, they were under a lot of stress and needed a break. Not to mention, they had already finished all the portions, so it wasn't like they couldn't afford the loss of a class. Their potion's professor had told them to either take rest or do a silent reading of all the portions and if they had any doubts or questions, he would be sitting at his chair, happy to clear them.
However, the real reason -which, by now, was an open secret- that Professor Slughorn had given them this silent-reading and relaxation time was in celebration of his flawless matchmaking skills.
Artemis had taken out a children's book called Tales of Bard the Beedle and was reading it with a small, close-lipped smile while Tom took out his own book, Secrets of the Darkest Arts and began to read it once again.
During Yule, Tom had come across this book called Magick Moste Evile and in it had found a rather interesting word called 'Horcrux'. Unfortunately, there had only been a brief mention of the term and not an explanation for it or how to make it. Since then, he had borrowed plenty of books secretly from the Restricted Section of the library in hopes of finding more about the word again only for it to be futile.
But then-
He had found it.
He had found an explanation for it and a step-by-step guide on how to make it at a dusty old book in the darkest corner of the library, the location itself making him understand that he wasn't supposed to have come across it. It thrilled him because from what he knew, his beloved school tended to hide books which contained secrets to achieving power.
Taking caution, Tom had applied a charm on the cover of the book that would switch it's cover page for an ordinary, boring looking one and had diligently read it whenever he had time.
The topic of Horcrux was an interesting subject and involved splitting one's soul into pieces and transferring the shards into objects to gain immortality.
He devoured every bit of information that he could learn the book and read it many times again, just in case he missed some details until he could recite the whole topic word-for-word.
In fact, to know even more, during Easter break, he had even asked Professor Slughorn if a person could have multiple Horcruxes, finding himself absolutely delighted when he was awarded with a positive answer.
Tom had been planning how to make his Horcruxes for a while now. He would unleash the monster said to be in the hidden Chamber of Secrets and finish his ancestor's work by killing those who were undeserving of learning magic. Then, using their deaths, he could make his Horcruxes and live forever. It sounded brilliant on paper and Tom was confident it would work.
After all, who would suspect parentless, quiet, polite, intelligent Tom Riddle to command the pet of Salazar Slytherin?
