the funniest thing about Tom Riddle is that the first adults to look at him and go ‘remarkable’ were knockturn alley shopkeepers and honestly that explains a lot
tom: i cannot afford anything in knockturn alley knockturn alley: have you tried being useful to criminals tom: no but i am listening
tom riddle walking into borgin & burkes with ten galleons and a dream: i would like one anti-trace amulet please
burke, immediately clocking the born legilimens orphan with criminal potential: best i can do is mentorship, fraud, and a father figure with terrible ethics
burke after five minutes with tom: this child is ominous, broke, brilliant, and morally portable. put him in the back room.
borgin & burke really saw a thirteen-year-old orphan ask for illegal anti-trace equipment and said, finally, unpaid labour with ambience.
tom: at last, a place where my talents are appreciated may: what talents tom: secrecy, crime-adjacent thinking, mental invasion, object cataloguing may: ... tom: also punctuality may: i’m happy for you :) tom, glowing because the world finally noticed him: good :) may internally: he’s leaving me tom internally: fascinating. she’s attached. may: ... tom: anyway look at my illegal necklace
in case anyone was wondering what sort of nonsense i’m writing, it’s May be a Downfall
