Snow White

Part 6

Everything had been picture perfect with Tom. He was more accommodating to your requests the summer before his final year at Hogwarts. He was more affectionate with him hugging you at every chance and not being as serious when speaking to you, but when you dropped him off at the train station, he seemed upset. He was snappy and mean the whole day leading up until it was time for him to leave.

When you arrived at the train station Tom sighed before saying "mother, no matter what happens after my last year at school I expect you to be waiting for me at home, no matter how long I take coming back."

"I cross my heart!" You say thinking he was just teasing.

He got out of the car, and you followed to help him take his things from the trunk. Once his things were out of the car, he hugged you for longer than usual. This hug was similar to the hugs he would give to you when he would be running from the consequences of his misbehavior at Wool's Orphanage when he was a toddler. The two of you were never overly affectionate, just the normal kind between a guardian and child, and eventually mother and son. However, at that moment it seemed like Tom was guilty of something and like he was trying to butter you up.

"I love you, mother," Tom said before letting you go and walking inside the train station. He was gone before you could say it back.

Tom's seventh year at Hogwarts was a normal one. Nothing big happened, no one died. No one that anyone seemed to notice anyway. The only difference is Tom had a blanket of yours that smelled like home. He would never admit it to anyone, as far as they knew he just liked having an extra blanket and no one dared question him, but he liked having a piece of you with him, especially since he was planning on being gone for some time.

Your time away from Tom was just as uneventful. Nothing changed much around the house other than the snake infestation coming to a halt, but that always seemed to happen while Tom was away. However, the time came for you to go pick Tom up from the train station. Normally Tom would already be waiting for you with the same serious expression on his face, but this time Tom was nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, you got out and searched the train station, but he was not there. You asked around and asked a few people if they had seen him, but they all said no. For the next two weeks, you came back looking for him, but Tom never showed. Each time you came home without him you became closer to searching his room. You hated to invade his privacy, but there seemed to be no other options. It did not seem likely that the school would neglect to notify you if Tom had been injured.

Tom's room was meticulously put together. Not a single thing seemed out of place, but he had always been like that. On the bookshelf in his room amongst other books were all his journals. The first one you grabbed at random had an entry about Dumbledore who you remembered to be that man that came by. There was nothing nice written about Dumbledore, and that Tom knew he had been here. Another entry detailed Tom changing his name. It mentioned how he was going by 'Lord Voldemort'. The next entry revealed that Tom was responsible for the death of his father. There was not much said about it and it was incredibly vague.

Several entries mentioned you. Tom wrote about keeping you locked away and 'asleep'. He also called you rebellious and 'weak' which would usually be followed by how sweet he found your futile attempts to discipline him. Later journals mentioned more deaths caused by Tom and witches and wizards. Tom also wrote that he would become the most powerful wizard to exist and that he would live forever. You put the journals back the way they were and quickly left the room. It seemed as if the boy you raised never really existed. However, through all the journals nothing revealed what happened to Tom or where he went, and you figured Tom would never return home. Even if he did you were not sure if you would even let him in the house with everything you had read about.