AN: a story I couldn't get out of my head.

Summary: Tom Riddle's whole soul gets sucked into the diary and is found by the daughter of Lily and James Potter.

Daily Prophet April 18, 1943

SIXTH-YEAR SLYTHERIN AND FOURTH-YEAR RAVENCLAW FOUND DEAD AT HOGWARTS

Two days ago, on April 16, 1943, two students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry went missing. They were discovered the next day by one Olive Hornby, 4th year bully of the unbearably irritating Myrtle Warren.

As the ghost of one of those students reports, Olive Hornby walked into the bathroom taunting,"Are you here again, sulking Myrtle?" However, Olive Hornby was faced by the very dead bodies of two students and the haunting face of Myrtle. The taunt was soon met with a blood-curdling scream and a thump as Olive Hornby's unconscious body fell to the ground. Thus, three students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were missing on April 17, 1943.

They were all found later that day by Head Girl Minerva McGonagall, who encountered the following scene: two dead bodies, the crying ghost of one of the bodies, and the unconscious body of Olive Hornby.

The two dead students were sixth-year Slytherin Tom Riddle and fourth year Ravenclaw Myrtle Warren. As this horrendous event follows multiple petrifications throughout the school year, the competence of Headmaster Dippet and the continuation of the school is severely questioned. Turn to page six (6) for an interview with the ghost of Myrtle Warren.

A sixteen year old really shouldn't try to make a Horcrux. No matter how "brilliant" or how much of a "prodigy" that kid is– a sixteen year old really shouldn't try to make a Horcrux.

Horcruxes are advanced pieces of magic, only embarked on by those who've spent decades immersed in the Dark Arts. While the process isn't terribly complicated, it requires a great deal of concentration and intent to a remove a piece of one's soul, not to mention the certainty of splitting your soul. Tom Riddle had power and intent, but when he found himself in the first-floor girls lavatory after his first "murder," he couldn't exactly think about the consequences of his actions. His focus was on the bombings going on in London and the guarantee of immortality. He wasn't expecting his first murder to happen so quickly, but, like a Slytherin, he seized the opportunity to grant his immortality.

Unfortunately for him, he hadn't murdered anyone.

You would think that commanding a giant snake to kill someone would count as a murder, but technically it was the basilisk who murdered Myrtle Warren. Maybe if Tom Riddle Imperio'd the snake it would count as a murder. Or maybe if he... actually killed Myrtle Warren? If anything, Salazar Slytherin murdered Myrtle, as he was the one who commanded the Basilisk to follow the orders of the heirs of Slytherin.

Nevertheless, as Tom Riddle, prodigy-boy-who-succeeded-at-every-spell-on-the-first-try, summoned up his magic and pointed his wand at the diary lying on the floor and spoke the words 'Anima Sectra,' the Horcrux spell worked. The dark magic spread throughout his body, finding his soul and searching for a fracture. But it found none. And so, the diary, which had turned into a sort of vacuum for souls, simply sucked up all of Tom Riddle's soul, leaving only a husk behind. So when Minerva McGonagall walked in a day later, she found the soulless shell of Tom Riddle, the unconscious body of Olive Hornby, the ghost and dead body of Myrtle Warren, and a diary.

As any controversial event in wizarding Britain, it was miraculously swept under the rug. Since Myrtle only became a ghost for Olive Hornby, she had not become a ghost during death of Tom Riddle and could provide no answers. The blame was, in fact, placed upon Headmaster Dippet, who had "allowed these events to happen." Dippet was thrown out and replaced by Deputy Headmaster Dumbledore, who took Head Girl McGonagall under his wing. The matter was not further investigated and the basilisk returned to the chamber with no heir. Myrtle's belongings were returned to her family, but Hogwarts seemed to know that Riddle's belongings had no owner, and were absorbed into the school itself, finding their home in the Room of Hidden Things. No one suspected that the missing diary of Tom Riddle had any importance at all.

Tom Riddle didn't know what to expect once he made his first Horcrux. If he had any inkling of what being a bodiless splinter of a soul was supposed to feel like, the truth was nothing like it. He definitely felt... whole. However, that probably didn't mean anything. And wasn't he planning on writing in the diary once he got back to his room? He definitely didn't feel anyone writing on him. In fact, was he supposed to feel at all? Is this all there was? Tom Riddle tried to look around. He then realized that there was no neck to look around with, and no eyes to see. As soon as he imagined them, they were there. A neck and two eyes. However he could 'see' nothing but a vast blank space. It wasn't even a white space. Or a black space. It had no color, no shade, no light, no darkness. It was There. It's presence was beyond comprehension, and as Tom Riddle tried to define it, tried to understand it, tried to control it— he hit upon a wall. The presence consumed him, and Tom Riddle, the master of control, bearer of power, heir of Slytherin, screamed. And the scream went on for eternity.

When Tom Riddle stopped screaming (it could have been a second or a year), he decided to make the best out of a bad situation. He thought up a body, and some clothes, and a room, and some furniture, and then as soon as he turned away from them all, they were gone. He looked down at his body, and brought up a hand to his face. It was but a blur. As he concentrated on making his hand appear the same as it had before: imitating every wrinkle or fold, every curve of the finger; his legs disappeared. Distracted, he found himself concentrating on his legs, until with dismay he realized that his hand had returned to its disfigured state. Tom Riddle burned with frustration.

Nothing was real. Time hadn't stopped, but it had ceased to exist. No one was there to manipulate, to be a point of reference. Nothing stayed. As soon as he imagined an object, it would disappear. With everything in flux, including himself, Tom's only desire was to find something that stayed. A constant. Something real.

And so, as anyone who prided himself on his power would do, he decided to create this point of constancy himself. His first creation was a box. A completely ordinary, colorless cube. He took care in forming the points of the cube and exacting the perfect square surfaces. Once he was sure the cube was finished, he moved its existence to a different side of his mind (did he still have a "mind"?) and moved away from it. He looked back at the cube and found that it was still there, without any disturbances. It worked!

He later worked on producing different forms, cataloguing them in different spaces in his mind until he had 5 shapes that he could put power into without consciously thinking of them. He knew that if he was stuck in this Horcrux forever, he had to work.

The new headmaster Albus Dumbledore simply couldn't be expected to accomplish all his tasks while also having the responsibility for the whole school. He had to placate the masses, console Myrtle's parents, "explain" to the muggle orphanage the disappearance of Tom, teach Transfiguration while Mcgonagall earned her mastery... All while heading the school. And his previous acquaintance, Grindelwald, was making an appearance as well!

Albus shook his head. He had been planning on stopping his friend once he had acquired certain resources... but now he just didn't have the time. It would all settle down soon enough, wouldn't it?

Dumbledore ignored the feeling at the back of his mind as he sat at the Faculty Table in the Grand Hall. He had enough things to do, and he didn't want to take responsibility for one more.

Slytherins were whispering about the new Dark Lord, and many had plans to join him for the following years. A hater of muggles, Grindelwald had just the ideology that could fill up the vacuum Tom Riddle created. Tom had had his circle of followers by his sixth year, but now that he was gone, the power vacuum only caused the Slytherins to lean to someone else.

As far as wizarding Britain was concerned, the War was a muggle war. Though rumors whispered about it being led by the new Dark Lord, he had not attacked Britain and so he was not in the minds of the people. Unless they wanted to join him, of course.

Grindelwald waited before attacking Britain, but when the war struck, it struck hard. Dumbledore called an Order to fight against the new threat. Grindelwald was less about guerrilla warfare and more about total destruction, as overpowered bombarda-like spells desolated whole crowds of wizards at once. It wasn't until 1956 that Dumbledore had his famous duel with Grindelwald, ending the World War. However, it had gone on long enough and the wizarding world had suffered and thousands had died.

Seeing the destruction caused, many Dark wizards denounced their muggle hating ways, while Dumbledore's influence in the Wizengamot swayed political favor in the Light direction. The Dark wizards had had the long-overdue war, and they had lost. While many still studied the Dark Arts, a leader had yet to appear as their was no cause to be passionate about.

Muggleborn hatred became an archaic way of thought, though purebloods usually had the upper hand due to their vast fortunes. By the late 1960's superiority among wizards was based on the size of bank accounts rather than blood as the wage gap widened. Slytherins were not hated, but earned the title of being "ambitious," as members of that house typically found themselves in Ministry positions.

When young Eleanor Prince ran away with a certain Tobias Snape, she was not disowned, just simply disapproved of. The first time Tobias Snape raised a hand to her face she ran off with her son, finding a rich muggle who was fascinated by her and purchasing one of the most expensive houses in Cokeworth. Her family greatly approved of her new choice of husband and found it in them to be a part of her life.

When Severus Simmons found himself at the park, watching muggleborn Lily Evans, he was excited to make a new witch friend. He found himself in the Ravenclaw house when he entered Hogwarts. His interest in the Dark Arts persisted, but his skill in Potions outweighed it as he earned his mastery and became a Hogwarts professor after Slughorn retired. His friendship with Lily Evans stayed a friendship and he desired nothing more.

Lily Evans married James Potter and had one child. She had black hair and her mother's eyes and was named Poppy Lillian Potter. Mostly because the name Poppy Potter sounded ridiculous and was insisted on by Sirius Black. Once Poppy was old enough to comprehend her name, she insisted on being called Lily Potter.

Lily Potter had dreams of green light and lightning scars and of having some importance on the world. Her greatest desire was to become someone meaningful. As a young girl she played in the Potter's gardens and explored, imagining great scenarios where she would find treasure or a lost artifact or a hidden creature. This nature continued and at the age of six while visiting her 'Uncle Sev' at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she ran off to find a 'secret of the school.' Delighted at the moving stairs, she ran off from her mother, who was having a 'boring talk' with her uncle. Lily decided to see how far she could go in the castle, and something led her all the way to the seventh floor.

I want to be great. I want to find something. I want to explore. Lily's thoughts were centered on finding the treasure she dreamed about all the time at her home. A few times she was distracted by some funny looking paintings, like a particular tapestry of a wizard trying to teach trolls to dance. After walking past that tapestry a few times, a door appeared, and Lily smiled. She had found it.

The room was full of junk. Lily shrieked with joy that she had discovered something all by herself. As she walked further into the Room of Hidden Things she saw a trunk with some things on top of it. Looking closer, she noticed that it was a white wand and a book.

Lily's eyes widened as she looked at the wand. She wasn't allowed to touch her parents wands, and she knew she couldn't get one until she was eleven. But just holding one couldn't hurt, right?

As Lily grabbed the wand, she felt a wave of power surge through her. Green sparks flew out of the wand and she laughed. She carefully set the wand down on the trunk and grabbed the book.

It was a journal with the name 'Tom Riddle' on it. It was empty.

AN: And so it begins! World War II lasted for ten more years than it was supposed to, which should make up for a lot of the wizard deaths Riddle caused. I'm not a fan of OCs, so while everything should be completely different, a lot of the characters will stay the same. This is my first fanfic, so review with any suggestions! Should I have Hermione, or did her parents/grandparents die in the War? Should Lily Potter know parseltongue? Should Lily Evans and Severus Simmons have a secret relationship (unlikely)? Who should be the main side characters? Remember to review!