The First Day & Sometime After
The morning came way too quick. Today would be their first day of classes, and what he found out from his schedule is that he has quite a lot of classes with his house and Gryffindor.
He sat up in bed, looking around the lighted room. He was the first up in his dorm. and he was as quiet as he could be when he was getting ready. His roommates must be heavy sleepers, or maybe they're dreading getting up. Tom, however, was very excited for his first day, and he couldn't wait.
As he finished putting his robes on, he was already halfway out the door. He followed a few of the older students out. He thought he'd went out with them to make sure he didn't get lost, but he actually remembered quite well.
***
The Great Hall was filled with fewer people than before. It was to be expected as it's morning and everyone got ready at their own pace. The fullest table he was seeing was his own, but yet, he still managed to find a spot to be all alone. That was until someone and his 2 friends sat way too close. He paid no attention until—
"I still can't believe he rejected your hand. Who does he think he is?"
***
Everything was going perfectly. He was getting along with his dorm mates, and he made some good friends in his house. He didn’t really try making friends with those of other houses because he soon realised there was too much rivalry between the houses, especially when it came between his own house and Gryffindor. He could’ve sworn that there wasn’t a day of the first term where one of his own and a Gryffindor weren’t tearing into the other, whether it was during or outside of class. And it wasn’t long after the beginning of his first year when he had slipped up. He must’ve been thinking about snakes because words in parseltongue, though he swears it was normal, had slipped out. Everyone gasped around him at the Slytherin table, and it even went silent around him. All the other house tables fell silent from the gasps of the Slytherins, and those with their backs turned towards the Slytherin table had turned to look. Tom stared down at the table to avoid the stares, but he could feel all the eyes on him.
Once he returned to his common room, most people turned to him. They didn’t say anything. They just stared. He didn’t make eye contact with anyone and tried to hurry quickly to his dorm, but acting cool and not seeming to be in a big rush. When he got to his dorm, he quickly got in and shut the door. He rested his head against the door and actually hit it on the door from being startled when a voice came from behind.
“Tom Riddle. Who are you, and what family did you come from?” The question came from Regulus himself. Tom turned to find Regulus staring at him from his bed, and he sighed. “I don’t have an answer for you, not even I know. All I know is my dad has no magical abilities at all, and my mom she’s a witch.” “Half-blood.” Regulus said, his expression blank. Tom furrowed his eyebrows, “Half-blood? What’s that?” “Well I’m assuming your mother isn't a muggleborn. Even if she were to be a half-blood, like you, her children would be half-blood. With your father being a muggle, you for sure aren’t pureblood, like most of us in this house and dorm. Your only option is half-blood for your blood status. Didn’t your mom ever tell you about any of this?”
Tom’s head felt like it was spinning, but he didn’t avoid his question. “No. We never really talk about anything of the sort.” He said with a shrug and continued speaking, “It doesn’t really matter about me not knowing about things like this, does it? Like it’s not that important?” “Depends on the person. To most of my family, it’s important. Other families also feel like it’s important. You’ll be finding that out over time.” Tom thought he was done talking since it fell silent, Regulus spoke up again. “Not that my opinion matters, but I wouldn’t go around telling people you have a muggle father. Those who are pureblood supremacists might not be happy when they find out a half-blood is the heir of Slytherin.” Tom just nodded, going to his desk near his bed to do his schoolwork. One thought kept crossing his mind, ‘Heir of Slytherin?’
***
He didn’t pay much attention to the conversation around him, but one struck the most as he was right there listening the whole time. “Did you hear him? He spoke parseltongue! We only know one other person who spoke that, and he had bad intentions, Salazar Slytherin!” Tom had heard from a fourth year Hufflepuff student who had not noticed that he was standing right next to them. The Hufflepuff still didn’t notice and continued on, “Do you think he’ll finish the work that his ancestor always wanted one of his descendants to finish for him?” “No. He wouldn’t do such a thing, would he?” The person next to them, also a fourth year student in Hufflepuff, asked. “You never know what a person could be capable of doing.” They said with a shrug. When they finally noticed Tom, they both flinched and made an excuse to leave. He stared straight ahead, not knowing about anything of what they had said.