TOM RIDDLE- THE NICEST GUY YOU WILL EVER HAVE THE FORTUNE TO MEET
"Dobby!" I drop down to my knees and throw my arms around the paralyzed house elf's shoulders. "I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed as tears of regret streamed down my face. "Here," I said the first spell that came to mind and a second later, Dobby was inhaling air like he had never breathed before in his life.
"T-thank you, miss." He stuttered.
Nodding, I stood up and brushed the dust off my ripped skinny jeans- hey, it's not like anyone ever said I wasn't allowed to bring muggle clothes here. Besides, I only wear them when I go out at night. In other words, this is the first time I've worn them... I looked around the room again. How had I never been in here before? It was huge!
"The Room of Requirements." Dobby said again, "It was- hey where are you going?" He asked, running to catch up to me.
"What is this?" I asked, pulling a huge white curtain off of what looked like a giant black cabinet.
Dobby frantically pulled me back, "No miss, please miss-" He lost his footing and fell on his back but I barely noticed. I was staring at a memory. My own memory from last summer. I had seen a cabinet exactly like this. I had opened it and I found my brothers button from his shirt. On instinct, I pulled the cabinets door open. Dust fluttered onto my face and I coughed.
The cabinet was pitch black, seeming to go on forever. I crawled inside it and looked back at Dobby, who's eyes were huge. "No, miss, please no!"
I couldn't hear the voice in here. Oh my gosh, finally! It felt amazing to hear my own voice and only my voice. I need to stay in here forever. But how?
I have to close the door!
Duh.
I reached for the door without getting up. Dobby fought me for it but I pushed him back. Just as the guilt was barely started to set in, I became consumed in darkness and a second later I felt like I was falling. I was thrown into Burgin and Burkes. My face smacked against the cold concrete and sputtering, I got to my hands and knees.
"Here," someone offered me their hand and I looked up and stopped myself from saying anything stupid. This guy was kind of cute.
"Uh- I um- I mean, thank you." Internally face palming, I allowed him to help me up. "Sorry, I- I don't know what happened, one second I was sitting in the Room of Requirements, talking to Dobby and a second later, I end up in Borgin and Burkes and I have no idea how I got here and I-" I was rambling way too quickly and thankfully I was cut off.
"Your okay, I just saw you walk in." He bent down and picked up something that looked like it had been knocked over. "I keep telling Mr. Borgin we need to move this," he shook his head, and I figured he was talking to himself and not me.
I fidgeted nervously, still trying to figure out how I ended up here. The teenage boy cleared his throat, "Sorry-" He held out his hand and I shook it. "Tom Riddle," he said of himself.
Something clicked in the back of my mind. Something about him was familiar but I couldn't quite place it. "Margo um-" Maybe it's not the best idea to say my last name. "Dursley?"
Tom laughed. "Is that a question?" He asked jokingly.
I laughed, "Sorry, I mean my name is Margo Dursley."
"Are you a student at Hogwarts? I've never seen you before, but your scarf looked familiar."
My what? I look at myself in the mirror behind him for half a second. Oh my gosh, what the heck??
I look like I'm seventeen! My hair is pinned up, dyed a deep dark purple. I have long black earrings on, which is weird since my ears aren't even pierced. I have rich red lipstick on. The rest of my outfit is more or less the same. One would think all of this with my Slytherin scarf would look awful. But it makes me look like I'm not someone you would not want to cross. I look intimidating, I look hopeful, I look- amazing.
"I'm in my sixth year." I hear myself saying. "I'm in Slytherin." I lie so easily that it scares me.
Tom nods, impressed, "So they let students out on Halloween now?"
I try to think of a response, but again, my brain is on a different track than me. "What about you? Why are you here?"
Tom shoves his hands in his pockets and nods his head towards the backroom. "I work for Mr. Burgin. I finished my seventh year last year." He puts his hand on the cold handle of the cabinet. "I've also been working on fixing this. There's another one back at Hogwarts." He adds even though I already know. "Supposedly the two are interlocked. They call it a vanishing cabinet, it takes you from one to the other."
That explains a lot. But that still doesn't answer the question of how I got here, why I'm here to begin with and why I look like I do. Because I can assure you that I was wearing nothing like this when I was at Hogwarts ten minutes ago. Oh yeah, I'm also twelve- not seventeen. And if I was seventeen, I would not be in my sixth year. Apparently Tom missed seeing this important detail.
"I have to get out of here!" I exclaim, again without keeping my mouth shut. I race out of the store and instead of ending up in Knockturn Alley, I run into a giant black wall and knock my head on it.
