Summary: What if Lord Voldemort wasn't all that he was seen to be? What if what he became was not because of the character he was supposedly born to be? What if it was all caused by someone he actually loved in his youth? The loss of this person who reasoned with him, who saw through his outer shield of hate, who actually found something in him no one ever saw… What if this was the loss which made him into Lord Voldemort?
Chapter 1:
It was Cari-Anna's fifth year at Hogwarts and was in Ravenclaw. Carri-Anna Lee to be precise. She wasn't exactly what you would call… "Attractive". To everyone, she was another one of those bespectacled freaks. She had ordinary brownish black straight hair which she always kept in a tight braid. Her eyes weren't that bad. They were nice and large but were kept, true beauty hidden behind a thick framework called : Spectacles.
No one really took notice of her. She wasn't in any form of cliques or anything. She kept to herself and was quiet most of the time. She lived up to any expectations bestowed on a Ravenclaw the minute he or she was sorted: good grades. She was nice, yes, kind, yes, good character and all. But….
God gives and takes. Good grades don't guarantee good looks ,was one of her mottos and what she lived by everytime she looked into a mirror. An ordinary plain jane, never attractive. Every time she walked down corridors and went from class to class, she would hug her books close to her chest, dip her head down and walk straight. She never really had much confidence in herself, always too shy to speak out except during lessons (when she asked questions).
Overall, she was this innocent (but oh-so-plain and uninteresting) girl who was every teacher's dream student. She never cared for boys like other girls did. She never found the looks of the opposite gender intriguing or worth gawping at. What mattered to her was that who ever she dated or married had a good heart. That was probably why she did not swoon over Tom Riddle like other girls did.
The only time he probably ever noticed her was when she sneezed loudly in the library, both hands cupped to her face, her two magnified eyes looking around the area in shock and embarrassment. All he ever did was to look up from his text book, quill poised in his hand, stare at Carri-Anna for a while, look back down, and carry on with his work. She blinked foolishly and carried on with whatever she was doing, not knowing that he even looked up from his work.She was always willing to help another fellow friend in need, it was just that she was never given the opportunity to do so. Just that... No one ever really consulted her...
He on the other hand, Tom Riddle, that is, was quiet, sly, cunning, unkind, uncaring, extremely and unusually talented, and was practically emotionless. He always had this group of followers around him, yet he was not popular or famous of any sort. He always ignored the girls who continuously fawn around him. It was as if he did not have time for girls, for anything. All he cared was about himself. Getting the best grades. It was as if he had this immense goal in his life to be the greatest wizard ever known to the whole mankind.
"Thiz izzzn't your best Mizz Lee," the grumpy Professor Hardback said, shoving Carri (Carri-Anna) back her essay,"Dreadvful," she paused dramatically,"I vant it REEEDONE by tomorrow. A fffffull, 12 foot ezzs-ay , " she paused, "To be submited to me, in the morning. And zon't give mezat doleful look, tiz not going to vork,"she snapped, turning away to hand out the rest of the essays.
Carri-Anna looked back down at her essay. T . She was horror stricken. She never got lower than an A before. Never. The thing about Professor Hardback was that she picked on her. And in those times, Hufflepuff teachers picked on Ravenclaw students, Slytherins on Gryffindor and vice versa. There was no escaping. First it started out with an three A's, then four P's, and now a T. It was absolutely obvious why Hardback gave her the poor result, but it wasn't to Carri-Anna. You see, Carri-Anna was this naive girl who thought that everybody had good in them. So much to the extent that they never did bad things, this was probably why she never understood people who murdered, stole or robbed. So basically, she thought that the problem was her. Her and her studies. She could not take it anymore.
Class was dismissed and every body sprinted out of the classroom and out onto the fresh, crisp smelling lawn. School was out and everyone was happy, not unless your name was Carri-Anna. She walked slowly out of class, eyes fixated on that large, ugly stamped T being chopped, ithad faint traces of a circle around it. Her shallow, shuddering gasps were becoming more audible by the footstep out. She grasped the long roll of parchment and brought it close to her chest, closing her eyes and dramatically allowing tears to spill out from her eyes, staining the bottom of her extremely thick and large spectacles, looking down to the cold, stone floor. She just could not understand why someone could be so mean.
Suddenly, a white tissue appeared out of no where. Without thinking, she grabbed it, removing her specs, and burried her face into the soft, white fabric and wailed.
Cute, thought the person who gave her the tissue before stalking away.
She looked up, surprised, wanting to find the person who had given her the comforting piece of tissue paper. All she saw was a tall boy with thick, black and slightly wavy black hair walking away, books tucked in one hand while the other was in his pocket. He looked so familiar, even from the back, she just could not put her finger on where she had seen him before...
"Tom Riddle...?" she said softly, yet uncertainly...
Why had he offered her the tissue? It wasn't in his nature : an uncaring, unkind, unloving, unsincere, everything horrible in one way or another guy to offer a stammering, stuttering, crying girl a tissue...