09/25/2013 EDIT: This prologue has been rewritten. If you are just starting to read this story now, ignore this message. If you a returning reader, read this prologue again.

Disclaimer: All aspects of this story involving Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling, I only own the OC's present in this story along with any original plot line.

Looking back, I suppose I could've handled the situation a bit differently, or I could've handled it a lot differently.

But I was young, and I admit I was a bit foolish. But I certainly wasn't naive or daft; I knew exactly what I was doing. I just didn't know how it would end.

What I did was, well, idiotic, and to this day I regret every single moment of it. I knew I was taking a risk when I decided to do it, against my better judgement if I might add, but I didn't think it, never in a million years, that it would end the way it did. I understood what dangerous game I had signed up to play, and I never meant to get too far deep, only just deep enough. But I was stupid, and after so many years, I let my guard down. I let myself down.

I realize I'm probably being a bit vague. After all, in order for you to understand my story, you have to know my story from beginning to end.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we? I come from, what some would call, a 'perfect and privileged' family. My father had a very high ranking job in the Ministry of Magic, and he came from one of the purest bloodlines in the wizarding world. Furthermore, my mother was a very wealthy heiress, coming from a long line of pure-bloods herself. Both of their families were long lines of Slytherins, which rang true to me and my siblings as well.

We were, and still are, known all over Britain as one of the 'purest and wealthiest families in the entire wizarding world.'

Despite our wealth, my mother enforced a modest living. We didn't live in a huge mansion; she didn't see the point of a five person family living in a hundred room manor. If we had good quality clothes from a year before that still fit us, we'd have to wear them. My siblings and I still had to help out around the house in order to get allowance; my mother refused to get house-elves so we were stuck with many of the chores like dishes and laundry. We had to save our allowances to buy what we wanted, even though our family vault at Gringotts had millions and whatever we wanted wouldn't have even put a dent in our fortune.

You'd think with such a smart mother I wouldn't make such a horrible mistake.

While my mother preached modesty and frugality, my father preached ambition and success. He pushed us to do our very best in school, and whatever we we're doing really. He inadvertently put pressure on my siblings and I, but at the same time we wanted to be where we are today, and we wouldn't have gotten there without his constant reminder that if we never did our best, we'd never accomplish anything.

He was smart too. It makes me wonder how I did what I did.

Because of him, we did achieve our dreams. In school, my brother was top of his class and became Quidditch Captain, later becoming a seeker for the Montrose Magpies. My sister got the top grades out of all the students in her year and became a prefect when she made it to her fifth year, later becoming a talented Auror. What about me? Well, I had some of the top grades in the entire school, became a prefect my fifth year and later went on to become Head Girl in my seventh, and I considered myself very lucky when I graduated from school and took my father's place in the Ministry of Magic when he decided to retire.

To anyone we'd seem like the perfect wizarding family.

But we were never perfect; we had our issues, we had our flaws. We had our mistakes.

We all had flaws, everyone does. My mother was quite strict; my father was always away for work; my brother got involved in things that didn't concern him; my sister was quite pushy and naive; and I, no matter how hard I tried to deny it, had anger issues and was much too dramatic and pessimistic. There were more flaws, of course, but to name them all would take away the point of this story.

The point of this story is the mistake I made.

I learned quite a bit from this mistake, though I wish I had learned it earlier, maybe then I wouldn't have made the mistake in the first place. I had tried for so many years to be perfect, to never make a single mistake. That was my downfall, I suppose; convincing myself that what I was doing wasn't a mistake, when it was one of the worst of my life. At first everything was going accordingly to my plan, but then everything changed and then everything quickly fell apart. Bonds were broken, trust was shattered, and my life was nearly in ruins.

I had always told myself not to do it, and I had every single reason not to. But I did. I thought I was helping, I thought that if I did what I did it would make okay.

But it wasn't okay; he was never okay.

He was cunning. He was manipulative. He was corrupt.

He was Tom Riddle.

Hey guys, thanks for clicking on my story! This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction so it would be awesome if you could give me some input, but be nice if you have any complaints, please.

I know I haven't given you much to determine whether this is a good story or not, but I hope I've sparked your curiosity enough for you to keep reading and tell me how I'm doing.

Alright, thanks!