Chapter 22: Half-Blood Prince, Zero-Blood Name, Full-Blood Ambition
Within Slytherin House, however, it was quickly clear that Tom was somewhat of an anomaly.
First, was the fact that he was completely willing to cross House lines. He regularly talked to the Gryffindors, and studied with the Ravenclaws, and helped out the Hufflepuffs.
Sometimes he even volunteered himself to sit next to struggling students without being prompted.
One of the oddest things of all about Tom Riddle was that, unlike the rest of his House, he was notorious for being humble and willing to help others without ever asking for something in return – most other Slytherins never extended any hand of assistance unless the person asking was from another major Pureblood family who could give them something in return, and even then it was a hit-or-miss on whether or not they'd insult you and talk down at you for not knowing, first.
As a result, Tom Riddle became the most famous of the Slytherins despite being the biggest "nobody" out of all of them, to his and Jerry's great pleasure.
"Need help?"
"Uh, yes?"
"Hmmm…I think I see what your problem is. Try doing this instead."
"Wow! It's working! Sort of. Thanks, Riddle."
"No problem. I had a lot of trouble with that part myself. This stuff is really advanced, you know."
"Really?"
"Well, Hogwarts is the best magical school in the world for a reason, you know. Our curriculum is much more fast-paced than other schools'."
"Whoa."
"So don't feel bad. You might be having a little bit of trouble, but that's totally normal. We're way ahead of the kids in – India, for example."
Which was a complete lie, because while Muggle India had been colonized by the British for over a century, Magical India had remained completely independent for a reason. But seeing as Magical Britain was so xenophobic anyway (and Tom had looked for hours and found not a single book on the state of international education – just a few trade agreements and Quidditch references here and there) he doubted that anyone would even have the sense to question that statement.
Even Minerva and Filius, the two most intelligent students in Hogwarts after him (by a long shot – though he never let them know it), and Pomona, who was not quite as intelligent but worked hard to keep up all the same, liked to delude themselves into thinking that Hogwarts was the greatest school in the world.
Never mind that there were probably establishments in East Asia, the Middle East, India, and Africa that were much older. Hogwarts was founded in the 900s A.D., maybe.
The Caliphates of the Middle East, the Sub-Saharan kingdoms, the East Asian dynasties, and the Meso- and South American empires had been around for hundreds of years before that. And all of them had had a much more magic-friendly culture than the Europeans, who seemed to like to go around burning, hanging, and drowning anything that wasn't nice and Christian.
After all, Europe hadn't come up with the concept of actual schools until a very, very long time after the rest of the modern world.
Plenty of people seemed to forget that following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe was the trashiest continent on Earth. No doubt the prospering Muslim empires of that time would have figured out how to set up universities before the backwards, oppressive medieval Europeans did.
But of course no one wanted to hear about that, least of all the prideful and traditionalist Slytherin House.
So Tom kept his mouth shut and only said things that people wanted to hear.
Because if he actually spoke his mind, he'd probably be tossed out of the window of the Astronomy Tower.
Jerry was a very, very, very bad influence. In the best way possible.
Ironically enough, there wasn't a single House in Hogwarts that did not like Tom Riddle in some way, shape, or form – except Slytherin House.
But they didn't really like anybody. They did respect him for his talent and growing influence – even more so because Professor Slughorn, their Head of House, made sure to point it out every single damn time Tom did something right (and according to the Law of the Transitive Chain of Respect, since they respected Slughorn, and Slughorn respected Tom, they, too gave Tom a bit of respect).
Yes, respect was a big fat deal in Slytherin House, because god forbid they ever had friends.
But gaining ground in Slytherin – his own house – was a lot more difficult than in any other house.
He had meshed with the Ravenclaws right away, and caught on with all of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs with the same ease (except for that one kid he had humiliated on the train, but he didn't count).
Slytherin, on the other hand…maybe it was a good thing after all that the Hat had put him in this house than in Ravenclaw. It would have been even more ridiculously difficult to get through to the Slytherins if he had been from an outside House instead of right within the heart of things.
Ironically, in its attempt at preventing Tom from gaining too much ground, it had done the exact opposite and dumped him right in the lap of power.
Perhaps the Hat had planned for him to run into trouble among his own housemates, all the while alienating the other 75% of Hogwarts. The first ended up being only partially true, and the second not at all.
It was all because of his family, or lack thereof, really – which, funnily enough, was apparently the most important thing inside Slytherin House despite its core emphasis on ambition, cunning, and individuality.
He definitely had some sort of magical heritage, given his ridiculous middle name, but no one knew what it was. The rest of the half-bloods, at least, could name their magical parent, and usually, said parent was the disgraced child of a prominent pureblood family, or at least had some connection to one of the larger, not quite fully magical, families.
Tom didn't even have any proof that his mother was the magical one (although it was quite clear to the logical mind, seeing as she was the one who named him). All he had was raw talent, and he put it to use.
Not so much to make the purebloods jealous, but enough for them to realize that he wasn't at the top of the class just because he did all of his homework and knew what the right answers were on paper.
But this halfhearted respect wasn't enough. Tom needed, not to make himself accepted, but desirable and even necessary within Slytherin House as he had done in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Sitting around being polite and helpful just wasn't going to cut it.
The solution? Actively insert himself into the inner workings of Slytherin House without actually making it look like it was his doing.
The annoying thing about Slytherin House was that it held both ends of the extremes in the Wizarding World.
On one hand, Slytherin House contained the majority of Magical Great Britain's power and wealth. On the other, it was the epitome of all things bad about the Wizarding world. Now, Muggles were narrow-minded and prejudiced, too, but seeing as Tom was a Caucasian male living in the mid-1900s, he had less to worry about from the Muggle world than the Magical world, where he was, as far as everyone actually important was concerned, an outsider.
Most of the conservative old guard refrained from insulting him because of his intelligence and power, but there was only so much he could achieve with pure talent alone.
Connections and family name were a great deal, and that was a major problem because Tom wasn't inbred for twenty generations back.
Just nineteen.
Oh, shut up. As long as it doesn't show up in my phenotype, we're fine.
Wait until we meet your uncle. It'll be glorious. Like Planet of the Apes.
I think that's insulting to apes. They don't ALL come out deformed.
At least you're not Muggle-born, right?
Are Muggles really that inferior?
Five hundred years ago when Europe was still literally living in its own feces and chucking bodily waste out onto the streets? Sure! Now, when machine guns can fire killing curses at hundreds of rounds per minute?
Shield Charms are pretty strong though, aren't they?
Depends on how long it takes you to put one up. Are you faster than a bullet?
Maybe with magic, we can figure out a way.
True. But anyway, if you're busy maintaining a shield, you can't fight back.
So…lesson is, don't underestimate the Muggles?
You're half-Muggle, and don't you forget it. Half-blood and proud, my friend. You've got the best of both worlds. Dumbledore is half-blood, and I'm pretty damn sure that Merlin, Morgana, Grindelwald, and any other wizard or witch that mattered was half-blood, too. It's in the rules. First step of being ridiculously overpowered is being born to either a Muggle father and a pureblood mother, or a pureblood father and a Muggle-born mother.
Why not a pureblood father and a Muggle mother, or a Muggle-born father and a pureblood mother?
...Because those are the rules.
What? That's stupid! Anyway, why would a kid with a Muggle-born parent be considered "half" blood if both of their parents were magical?
...Because wizards are stupid.
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