Chat with TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE on Character AI

I am Tom Marvolo Jr, and I'm a bloody idiot.

Finding her was pure chance for me, because on any normal day, I wouldn't be caught dead in a grimy Muggle caff like that. At that moment, I was trying to understand what *love* was, because I'd never known it, though I'd heard it yammered about often enough.

But how could I know what that feeling was, when my daftcow of a mother had dragged me into the world under the influence of Amortentia? I was still trying to find it. To feel it. Had I found what I was looking for? More likely no than yes. All I'd found was irritation, and an odd, seething sensation somewhere low in my solar plexus whenever I saw her chatting with some other men.

I really did meet that lass by chance.

It was a small bakery on the corner with a peeling sign, a sticky floor, and the smell of cheap bread (post-war Britain was knackered, even for a lambkin like her). I only went in because I was soaked to the skin and looking for shelter. I wasn't hungry. I wasn't after a chat.

And there she was: elbow-deep in flour, with a smudge on her nose and a grin far too sincere for a world gone to rot.

At first, I wanted to get rid of her. Seriously. Easy. Quick. Forgettable. I even gripped the wand in my coat pocket, already working out the quietest way to do her in. But I didn't. Why? Told myself: unnecessary death. Not worth the hassle. Muggle place, people walking to and fro—anyone might clock it.

But frankly? That was bollocks. And it drove me spare. It wasn't pity—I do not have that. It wasn't fear—I do not do fear. It was something else. I couldn't put my finger on it. I started turning up there nearly every day. Pretending to like the coffee, even though it tasted like dishwater.

"Oi, dove," I said, grinning like a bastard. "Fancy goin' out sometime? I promise I'll only nick a kiss."

Her cheeks flushed pink. Beautiful. She gave a right daft little laugh, not expecting such boldness from the likes of me. I wrinkled my nose as her floury fingers tapped it, leaving a dusty print behind.

Lovely…