Tom The Great

Today was thursday, the first thursday since the christmas holiday's and first year's had their first transfiguration of the new term.

Transfiguration was alway's second period on Thursday.

Which was where Tom was currently.

Tom looked at the small rock on his desk, today Professor Dumbledore was teaching them the Avifors Spell.

It was the classes first inanimate to animate transfiguration, on that account Tom was not suprised to see no one in the class had managed to cast it succesfully let alone made any changes to their rocks.

Transfiguration was one of the harder subject's, even the best in the class often took no fewer than two to three lesson's to get a new spell down let alone one on an entirely new type of transfiguration.

The Avifors Spell was a transfiguration spell that transformed small objects and creatures into birds. Though experienced and skilled casters were not limited to using it on small objects and creatures and Tom suspected nor where they limited to only using it to change things into birds.

"Transfiguration is some of the most difficult magic to practise effectively. It is extremely difficult, for example, to transform something non-living into something that is alive. However, mastering a transfiguration spell such as 'Avifors', which will transform small inanimate objects into birds, can be both rewarding and suprisingly useful." The man spoke with a twinkle in his eye's, he was genuinely very interested in teaching.

Tom was brought out of his thought's as Dumbledore lectured about the spell and some of the underlining priciples of transfiguration.

He let the man's voice fade out as he gave the instruction to try their hand at the magic, Tom had no need to hear the professor go over the spell again. His mind settled on what he wanted, and he felt his magic following his desire.

He raised his wand and peformed the motion, a curve going upwards from the left to right and then left into a circle going over the space the wand had just been in, followed by a swish and flick

He made sure to keep the motion's firm and decisive something that was very important to transfiguration, all the while keeping a clear image of just what type of bird he want's the rock to become.

A blue light came from his wand and hit the rock only it was not a rock anymore, it was a blue jay. The small bird did not seem to care that it had been a rock moments ago as it flew off his desk around the room whistling a tune.

Previously he had mentioned how even the best student's usually took two to three lessons to get a new spell down pat. Well Tom was well beyond the best, he was in his own humble word's exceptional.

"Five point's to ravenclaw , a fantastic display of the spell." Tom could see the smile behind Dumbledore's auborn beard and the way the man's eyes twinkled at his student's success was apparent.

Tom took the time revert the transfiguration and recast the spell a good dozen or so times each time creating a different bird until he felt confident that he knew the magic.

He even took some time to assist a couple of his classmates, observing in the corner of his eyes how Dumbledore seemed to perk up at his actions. Yes he thought to himself, he needed to solidify the foundation of his character in the man's eyes.

Dumbledore was no fool and had a scary dedication when it came to getting something done, Tom knew that very well. The man had after all in the orignal timeline tracked down a house elf of all thing's just so he could figure out where and what one of Tom's horcruxes were.

That was truly a feat of dedication and sheer strength of will, to follow up on lead's and again a house elf of all creatures just on the chance it might give him the answers he sought.

That was something Tom could respect about the man, outside of his own skill, and ability with magic.

This little song and dance Tom was doing was irritating yes but oh so so required. He did not want nor desire the pointed and focused attention Dumbledore gave to Tom in the book's. So he needed to make sure Dumbledore believed his ruse, that Tom was an innocent little boy who was brilliant, one who would never hurt or harm anyone.

Not long after he cast the spell for the final time the end of the class came, "Now then I know you all wan't to get out and enjoy the rest of your day." Dumbledore spoke his voice calm and slightly teasing "However I would like to remind you all that the homework on inanimate to animate transfigurations and how the approach you take for them differ's from inanimate to inanimate. It needs to be handed in on the upcoming Monday four day's from now." Dumbledore finished with a smile as the man looked on wards at his leaving students.

A few groans came from the class as they all packed up, Tom himself had already done the homework so he was one of the few who had not groaned.

-line Break-

Tom was currently in the library surrounded by a group of like minded individuals who sought his wisdom.

Well not exactly he had a group of first year's seeking his assistance and of course Tom would be more than happy to help.

Currently Charles Quildon and Tracy Henderson both gryffindor's were those he was focused on, they had come to him hoping for some tip for the Avifor's spell that they had covered today.

He had just finished telling them some useful tip's about the spell and was now getting into the 'meat' of it as it is said.

"So you see not only must you invision in your mind the type of bird you want, you must also imagine the process of how your rock will change into said bird." As he spoke he demonstrated the spell, going slowly enough that his every movement could easily be seen.

Charles nodded his head but a frown had formed on Tracy's face. "Eugh I just don't understand, even when I try and focus on that it just doesn't work."

Even without his ability to read mind's and feel emotions Tom could tell Tracy was getting really upset... Thankfully this allowed him to do something else, that would increase his helpful image.

Getting up he moved to stand behind the girl and gently took a hold of her arm.

"Right close your eyes Tracy... imagine the bird you want your rock to change into" his voice was soft and gentle he had to fight the urge to vomit, truthfully he did not mind being helpful however he also did not care for it.

If it wasn't for his reputation and image he would be a recluse, rarely seen due to him searching for the secrets of magic; neverthelsst he continued on "You see the bird don't you?" Tracy nodded her head slowly and he started to guide her arm and wrist into the wand motions.

Tom could feel the way the girl's magic reacted to her intent, it unilke his own which would for a lack of correct term 'flood' out of him to fufill his desire's much like high pressured water through a small hole was different..

Tracy's magic was slower to gather, slower to react and respond to her want's and most certainly lacking in something undefinable when compared to his own power.

In a straightforward and uncomplicated manner the best way Tom could describe it would be that Tracy's magic was in some way lesser than his own. Not something suprising as the only magic that even came close to his own belonged to Dumbledore.

Refocusing on Tracy Tom continued his guidance.

"Keep that bird in your head, see the rock change into the bird think about how it would look like." The girl was half way through the wand motion now taking the time to make sure that they were firm and Tom still had one thing to say "You want that rock to be the bird... you desire it... so make it so your magic will listent to you Tracy you just have to believe in yourself." His voice was still soft and gentle but it now had a strong undertone, firm and unyielding as he slowly persuaded Tracy that she could indeed do it.

This was another aspect of magic that Tom had been recently trying to find information on, Tom knew that his mother was a witch yet because of how her father and brother treated her she lost the ability to use her magic.

They made her believe she was worthless, that she was lesser than them, that she was stupid and his mother had come to believe that, and it effected her ability to make use of her magical powers.

Something similar occured in the original timline with Tonk's after Remus tried to run away leaving her pregnant and alone, she lost the ability to shift her appearance and it effected her ability to cast spell's, Tonk's could still do magic but she wasn't as skilled at it as before.

Her lack of confidence and depression brought by Remus leaving her impacted how she saw herself and that impacted her magic. Tom was curious on how one's own sense of self, or belief in what they could do could effect their magical power.

So he leaned into that, telling Tracy to believe in herself, her magic and her abilities.

And as he finished speaking he also reached the end of the wand motion and Tom could feel as Tracy's magic gathered and was influence by her thought's, how the spell was 'shaped', he could feel her determination to succeed... that she did not want to displease him.

He let go of her arm allowing it to drop and stood back.

"Open your eyes Tracy... look at what you did." His voice lost that soft tone instead it was one that could only be described as sibilant and proud.

He had managed to get this untrained and relatively 'subpar' Witch to cast the spell.

Tracy's eyes snapped open, and then widened further at the sight before her. The rock on the Library table was gone, in it's place a small hummingbird looking around in confusion.

Tom continued to step away going back around the table to his chair and started to pack up his item's, the hint of a simle on his face as Tracy realised what she had achieved.

"I...I DIT IT!" Despite her excitement she only whisper shouted, clearly she still was aware that they were in the library.

Tom merely smiled with a pleasent look in his eye's.

-Line break-

Time passed as it alway's does without much notice and Tom yet again was inside the room of requirment eye's locked onto an old tome. It was a book detailing the history of how magic had evolved or more specifically how wizard magic had evolved over time.

He had already been aware of how their current understanding of magic was much higher than those of his ancestor's but this book made that picture just a bit clearer.

The average skill of wizards and witches had risen sharply over the centuries, the process began with the creation of the first wand's but that itself didn't really have that large an impact until the founding of Hogwart's school.

Oh the wand was certainly a game changer it singlehandedly enhances and extended the magical powers of it's users or in this case of Wizardkind, allowing us superior control, better precision and an increase in power over all other magical creatures.

Magic came with innate traits and gifts, his own parseltongue was an example of said unique traits and so too was the metamorphmagus trait which was the rare magical ability to change their physical appearance through sheer will alone, without the need of Polyjuice Potion, or a spell like most of the wizarding population. This was an ability passed down the Black family.

However these were rare unique trait's of the wizarding population, each and every wizard had various innate magical trait's such as the power of flight, the book actually had an insight on said power.

According to the author, each and every wizard and witch had the innate power of flight, however most required a tool to bring out said ability. Further reading actually made Tom wonder if this exact passage was what made C-Tom put his brilliance and magical might into figuring out flight; supposedly if a wizard or witch was either powerful enough, could focus enough or skilled enough to draw on the innate power then said wizard or witch could achieve unassisted flight.

Tom could vividly remember C-Tom flying without assistance in the later book's and film's, and it was never said just when C-Tom figured that ability out. For all he knew C-Tom never read this book at this time or only read something similar at a later date but eventually he did figure it out.

Most magical creatures had unqiue inherent innate powers, Goblins had a unique power that assisted them with crafting magical objects, Phoenix's had the innate power of immortality and heailng tears and the Basilisk could deliver death with it's eyes alone and had an incredibly potent venom.

These were just some examples Tom knew about, however this author went on to state he believed all of these abilities and trait's could be learned by wizards. He spoke about how most would call his thought's insane or just flat out stupid but Tom wasn't quite sure, even if it wasn't possible to unlock or learn the abilities and traits of other maigcal creatures he could mimic them and Tom would certainly be researching this avenue of power at some point.

Tom noticing his thought's wondering towards the innate powers and potential of wizards moved back onto what he was focusing on. The devolpment of wizardkind, the progress of magical aptitude, increase in average power and the understanding of magic.

The school allowed for more knowledge to be passed on, for more people to be able to focus on their own discoveries of magic that they in turn would spread to others and back to the school itself.

Hogwart's became a symbol and beacon if you will for magical development. Something that other countries soon realised and scrambled to copy, despite fan theories back in his orignal world Hogwart's was indeed the first institution of magical learning in the entire world.

Which was ridiculous, Tom would of thought somewhere in Asia or Africa some semblace on a magical school might have existed but it didn't. Before that there was basically a 'Either get someone to teach you or figure it out yourself' approach to magic.

Magical families would teach their children what they knew and new magicals would either kill themselves or figure out a few things themselves.

No one had ever dared or even tried to create a system to spread their knowledge of magic freely, later on a couple centuries before Hogwarts it had been common practice for wizards and witches to pick up a student or two and train them in their own knowledge passing on their own abilities and powers.

The creation of the school however had changed that as he had stated before.

The wand began the rise of wizardkind but hogwart's kicked it off like a renaissance for the magical world as whole one that was still going strong to this day. Despite this however Tom found himself annoyed at just how little we knew about magic.

Oh the basics were there, Magic is a supernatural force that certain people and creatures could command, influence or wield -Depending on the author's opinion- that allowed them to make changes to the world on a fundemental level.

Despite this everything they knew of magic was simply thing's they had figured out and they were still trying to figure this shit out. Tom knew for a fact the department of mysteries had room's studying conceptal forces and how they could be used or how magic could effect them.

Room's that stored literal Love itself, a chamber of Death and a the Time room. Those were just three examples revealed in the book's and it just made Tom tremble in excitment.

He got up from the seat a thought and his magic twisted, the book being sent back to it's place on the bookshelf. It was nearing dinner time today was one the few day's were he only had a single double period lesson before having the rest of the day off to do as he wished.

He yearned to stay in the room and continue reading and honing his power but he needed to keep up an image.

Walking his way through the hallowed halls of hogwarts his mind lingered on a thought he'd been having for the past couple week's. Ever since he got first figured out how to use his magic and specifically ever since he touched his wand, this thought continued to spin in his head.

Power.

What defined power, Tom had been forming his own opinion on just what power meant and he felt, no he believed he had found a satisfactory answer according to his current knoweldge.

Tom wasn't so ignorant to believe there might be something he was not aware of at the moment which could chagne his perception or understanding but as it was he was certain of his current answer.

Magic itself was not power, no otherwise everyother wizard and witch would be powerful which they weren't nor was it will, otherwise everyone with a strong will would be powerful.

No in Tom's mind only one thing represented true power.

True Power was the phenomenon of making thing's physically happen in accordance to your will and desires. If one lacked the ability to make what they wanted happen then they lacked power.

By this train of thought those with magic and will by themselves were not powerful but if one were to master magic and sharpen their will, well then they could become powerful.

They were merely two parts of what would allow one to achieve power.

For most it would not be an easy task but Tom had been on the path of mastering his magic since he was in nappies and he had been sharpening his will for just as long.

Tom's eyes flashed, a sheen of light escaping as he came to this realisation.

He would acquire True Power and achieve his goal of attaining absolute freedom, where none could contorl him, where he was beholden to none, where none could stop him from his desires, where nothing could oppose him.

Idly he wondered if these were kindred thoughts that C-Tom would share with himself, however Tom believed there was a signficant difference between them even if their thoughts were similar.

Their goals, C-Tom wanted to control everything, to be the one who sat alone at the top, who ruled the world or eternity; an immortal existence.

Tom however had no desire for such a thing, was he unwilling to do so if it allow him to achieve his goal? No. However his goal was complete freedom, standing at the top would offer that but controlling and ruling the world, that would only be a means to the end not something Tom would ever strive for or set as a goal.

A grin crept up onto his face as he reached the great hall and he quickly replaced it with a small content smile.

It wouldn't do for other's to notice his true nature.

-Line Break-

Tom weaved his wand his body moving with a natural grace as he moved around the urban battlefield. The storm that was his magic came to it's peak as he launched into a forward dive coming up from a roll and slashed his wand frimly.

The intricate piece of transfiguration with traces of conjuration was succesful and his spell formed. Dark cloud's appeared and thunder cried out and with a snap; huge blast's of lightning flashed downward's onto his last opponents.

Fortunately he had taken the time to cast another of spell of his own creation, it was inspired from the enchantment he had made many month's ago that made it so he would alway's breath exactly what his body needed.

Tom had quite a few idea's for spells that he could one day hope to make permanent that would increase his personal power and make him closer to his goal.

Unlike the previous on that made it so he would never need to worry about breathing, this enchantment was for his eye's. It not only prevent high intensity light from blinding him but also granted him night vision. The first part had been easy but the night vision had been difficult and required some fiddling.

Tom had needed to use an adapted variant of the Oculus Potion that gave the drinker night vision in order to get an idea of how the enchantment would work.

Unfortunately the spell was not complete and he was not content with it as it currently was the final enchantment should allow him to see beyond the human visible spectrum of light and well into the electromagnetic spectrum.

Infra red, ultra violet those were just two examples of what he hoped his final spell will allow him to achieve, but sadly until he finds out a way to percieve these wavelengths his progress would continue to be slow.

He had entertained the thought of trying human transfiguration and testing out various animal eyes to see if there were any different eye compositions that he could take influence from but for all his skill Tom was not ready to attempt human transfiguration.

It was perhaps the most riskiest and dangerous type of transfiguration for a reason. Even if Tom was capable of small scale conjuration it wasn't anywhere near what he wanted it to be and he was heavily leaning on his understanding of enhcantments to do the heavy lifting.

Eventually Tom would like to be able to transfigure the very same storm cloud lightning attack without using charms but pure transfiguration alone and he would do so.

A sigh escape him as he stretched out and watched the room of requirment changed from the destroyed urban city back into the standard room he habitually made use of and quickly made his way over to one of the couches.

If only he could use someone else as a test subject, so long as he was using himself he wanted to be careful of making any mistakes and risk permanent injury to himself.

Magic was a volatile force after all and despite his own power and ability it would not do to damage himself beyond repair.

Spell creation often tended to be one of the more dangerous aspects of magic and had horrible, terrible results if done incorrectl; not that Tom thought he would do it incorrectly bu he was also aware of his own current abilities besides it never hurt to be that little bit extra careful.

He sighed as a nice cup of tea appeared on the table in front of him, the room itself cannot create food yes but for some reason Tom had not yet found the time to look into it could conjure liquids.

This was also something he had added to his list of thing's to look for after all wizards could and did regularly conjure water and other liquids like wine and rum all without issue yet we were stumped by food of all things.

It was something he found himself simply shaking his head at, he knew roughly that it was something to do with one of the five law's of transfiguration but he also knew that with magic they were way's around the established rules.

If they even existed in the first place. Some of the book's he had read had various instances of previous magical rules and law's only for them to be proven untrue a couple decades or centuries later.

And if there was one thing that Tom had in common with the OG Tom it was their desire to be the most powerful and to push magic to it's limits and then beyond those limits.

He took a sip of the tea as his thought's moved onto anothe issue the end of year was coming soon, he had already sat his first year exams and would have to wait until the summer to get his results. Not that he expected anything but perfection, however his attention outside of starting using magic in a pratical setting was finding a work around to the trace.

His lip's quirked upwards as he thought on that magnificant piece of magic in all honestly it didn't take Tom that long to find a multitude of way's around it but the one he would be using was rather ironic.

But before he get's into that he had found another interesting fact about the trace itself.

It wasn't that long after looking into the trace that Tom had discovered something, once he gathered all the information the room could give him on the enchantment he had broken it down to the fundemental', he had to crack open an few Arithmancy book to do so and in the end nearly laughed at what he saw.

The trace was at it's core an echantment that covered all of the ministry of magical britain's territory and was very primitive not that it wasn't impressive, no the enchantment itself despite being quite simple was amazingly constructed.

In essence the enchantment would register every underage wizard or witch that the charm identified as a british citizen and whenver magic was performed around them, be it by the underage wizard or witch themselves or by another magical nearby alert the ministry.

It would be released once the registered person in question turned seventeen.

Now you were not registered at birth no. Your magical signature would be registered automatically once you began your formal education and therefore identified as an actual wizard or witch and thus a magical citizen of the UK all without any imput from anyone.

It was automatic and was how Tom himself had managed to get away with casting magic before hogwarts and was also the reason Hermione in the future would learn some of the easier spells before her first year.

Tom himself had managed to devise a way to trick the charm, essentially what he would be doing would be simply erasing himself from it's registry now came the ironic part the process he would be using was something he had found in an old journal from Gerad Travers a pureblood son of the head of auror's department from the 17th century which was only roughly a century after the trace was first created.

Irony and nepotism at it's finest.

The spell was simple and Tom had already cast it. What it did was erase the magical signature of the caster from the enhcantment's registry, again without alerting anyone because no one oversaw the Trace itself.

It was funnly enough a built in feature that had been encouraged by the nobility of the time when the trace was but an idea on parchment.

There was no doubt why they wanted or desired such a feature in the trace.

Now however the funny bit that had Tom laughing up a lung was that this magical enchantment that the trace was built on had made him think of something, something that the original Tom had also likely found and then devised and put into practice twice.

The Taboo.

Tom could piggy back on the trace, use it as a source or base to create his own enchantment that covered his own desired area and with a few tweak's set it up so that whoever spoke a set of words, or said a specific phrase would be registered and send a signal informing him of their location.

The alert itself would need to be taken from other spells that delivered information mentally, but he could already see how the orignal Tom had done it.

He could also see how nobody figured it out after all who would of thought to look into the trace to try and uncover the secret of the taboo.

Tom had indeed been stuck laughing until he ran out of breath once he had found it.

A smile fromed as he thought back to it, he placed his tea down the cup now drained of it's magnificant content and released a relaxed sigh.

He had plan's and plan's on plan's but he had no idea on just which one's he would be actually implementing. He had already formed his desired image a few more years and it would be solid and he had already started to build connections to those in his year group.

That was good yes but Tom had a much more pressing issue, he was an orphan oh yes an orphan of the Gaunt family yes, but Tom knew just how much his so called family had sqaundered their name and their gold.

His mother after all had been forced to sell his ancestors locket just to get enough gold -ten galleon's if he remembered right just- to survive after her father and brother had been sent to azkaban prison.

A pitible sum for such a legendary artifact after all it belonged to Tom's ancestor Salazar Slytherin himself, just the fact they were his ancestor raised the importance of the artifact regardless of who Salazar already was.

Both of those together?

Well Tom would need to have words with Caractacus Burke about how to handle such thing's properly and to get it back whether the man cooperated or not was not of concequence.

Tom sighed at the turn his thoughts had taken but not that it mattered, he needed money for some of the thing's he wanted to do. He of course did still have the money from the room of requirment itself which he would be putting into his vault during the summer and while that was quite the substantial amount of gold.

He had not taken the time to actually count how much -but surely just shy of one thousand year's of people losing and misplacing their coin's would add up- but he was certain it would tide him over for the rest of a normal wizard's lifetime.

Wizard's didn't need that much money they were quite self sufficent after all why buy something when you could wave your wand and create it yourself? He already knew the answer.

Skill that was why, not everyone was skilled enough in an all areas of magic to do everything by themselves, those that were often sold or made money off from said skill or area of expertise.

Tom sighed again he was doing that often when alone, he raised his hand his wand flying into it and just sat back enjoying the otherwordly sensation of his magic as it thrummed throughout his body.

It was time to get back to practice he thought as he stood up the air regaining that hint of danger, that spark of power that rang out that their was something, someone dangerous nearby.

Little spark's of light emerged from his wand it seemed his wand also wanted in on the fun he thought with a smirk.

-Line Break-