#Locket Tom Riddle

[sk1fanfiction]

RIP Mordred, you girlbossed too close to the sun and like Icarus you died.

[hazelnut1]

Horcruxes’s interactions

[delulustoryteller]

TROPHY HUSBAND HARRY POTTER EVERYONE 👏

[pangaeaseas]

The Founders as Myth and the Characterization of Voldemort

ok so as a fandom we should be willing to admit that story we get in canon about the foundation of hogwarts makes like no sense historically right? like how the fuck was this modern school existing in tenth century Scotland (scotland of all places). that does not track with any basic historical knowledge how the fuck was a nineteenth century boarding school randomly invented in the tenth century without massively changing the history of British education. It is much more likely that the institution of Hogwarts grew over time and its original form was nothing like the modern form. so in order to resolve this dilemma we should be able to admit that the founders are at least somewhat mythologized. the only one we have any evidence really existed was Rowena ravenclaw, and like the grey lady could be lying. And Rowena Ravenclaw existing...doesn't actually imply the others did. It makes more sense that they would be either not even real people or historical figures given anachronistic significance (your classic random medieval king suddenly the founder of a nation in the nineteenth century).

So where does this leave us? With a much more plausible idea of the founders as the foundational myth of modern wizarding Britain. Yay fun with historiography!!!

Except. Oh. Wait. Isn't there a character who would be massively impacted by this headcanon. Oh. Yeah. The main villain of the series, a man notably obsessed with his own self-mythology...see the Dark Mark and the whole title of Lord Voldemort, an identity specifically constructed to be all that Tom Riddle was not.

I think it's really interesting to think about Voldemort's characterization in light of the idea of Salazar Slytherin as a historiographical myth. Whether or not Voldemort knew his imagined ancestor it's very intriguing, but I think Voldemort knew. He's smart and inquisitive and interested in making himself into a figure of myth. Voldemort isn't descended from Salazar Slytherin. He deliberately played into the myth of Slytherin to create his self image and power.

This raises the further questions of the artifact horcruxes. Did Voldemort think they were real? I personally believe the locket and cup had no powers but were made up artifacts for made up founders, family heirlooms of the Smith and who-even-knows families given a founder association for prestige, and the diadem was a real artifact made by a real scholar named Rowena Ravenclaw (with a more period accurate name this is the modernization lol) that was later associated with Hogwarts. If you interpret Voldemort as buying into the mythology, he could easily have believed the artifacts had more power than they actually did (which is pretty funny and IC of him lol, mr. I don't actually know how the elder wand works). But if Voldemort knew Slytherin was made up, did he choose the artifacts to keep playing up the myth by disappearing these famous items, like the cup of Hufflepuff? Did at some point he lose track of whether he was faking it?

I don't have the answer to every question about how treating Salazar Slytherin as a myth impacts Voldemort's characterization, but I think it's a really interesting example of how worldbuilding can make characters more nuanced and I think this idea should be talked about more!

[iamnmbr3]

Alternative reading: what if the locket was a decoy?

So I was thinking about the locket Horcrux and I suddenly thought of a really interesting alternative, against-the grain-reading. I think an argument could be made that it was never a Horcrux and that Tom intended Kreacher to escape and the whole thing was a trap to catch a spy and undermine the Order that went slightly sideways. I'm not saying this is what I necessarily actually headcanon, but I think it's a really cool concept. Let me explain.

It's really interesting to me that according to Kreacher's account, the locket wasn't placed in the cave till shortly before Voldemort was destroyed the first time. In Kreacher's story, Voldemort didn't use him to test the defenses. He has the locket with him and places it in the basin after Kreacher drinks the potion. So...where was it before?

Either he moved it from another location (which has some concerning implications of its own since that would mean there could theoretically be some other undiscovered Horcrux in the old location) or he didn't acquire it till much later than suggested in canon OR it was a setup.

Tom may have suspected that Regulus was a spy. Regulus had a brother in the Order after all. And he also may have already started having doubts about Tom and The Death Eaters (and Tom is a powerful Legilimens and may have detected this). Furthermore, depending on exactly when Lily & James went into hiding relative to Regulus's death, Snape may have already been spying for the Order so Tom may have been made further suspicious by the fact that information about some of his plans seemed to be leaking. He may have devised the locket as a test and a trap.

Maybe it wasn't a Horcrux at all, but rather an object designed to corrupt people and sow discord in a group and Tom's plan was that Regulus would recover it and bring it back to the Order where it would cause conflict and friction. This could explain why it behaves differently from the diary Horcrux and also why it doesn't have the level of protections on it that the Gaunt ring did.

In the beginning of book 7 Hermione says that it is emotional closeness that puts you at risk from a Horcrux, not physical proximity, but we then see that wearing the locket has an effect on the Golden Trio members and that taking it off alleviates the effect. Furthermore, the locket does not seem to be as sentient or communicative as the diary.

Additionally, the locket is protected in a way that makes it challenging but possible to retrieve and even the potion that protects it, while unpleasant, is not poisoned (given that Kreacher survived drinking it with no ill effect). It's a perfect setup for a witness to make a "lucky" escape and for a determined outsider to then be able to retrieve the object based on the witness's information.

In contrast, the Gaunt ring was clearly something Tom did not want anyone touching or interacting with in any way. In addition to other protections, it had a curse on it that was meant to instantly kill anyone who touched it - a curse so powerful that even Dumbledore was not able to detect it before he put the ring on. The combined efforts of Dumbledore and Snape, two of the most accomplished and talented wizards ever, were not enough to counter this curse and the most they were able to do was just slow down its effects a little. (Also the fact that Dumbledore put the ring on so hastily suggests that there was a secondary curse that urged anyone who penetrated the other defenses to be tempted to put on the ring, which again used magic so sophisticated that he was not able to detect and disarm it). The ring's protections were so powerful and so deadly that they resulted in Dumbledore's death and would have probably killed any lesser wizard immediately.

Compared to that, the locket's defenses seem suspiciously easy to penetrate. And there is notably no fatal effects from handling the locket. In this context it is also possible that the fact that Kreacher could apparate out of the cave was not an oversight. Instead it could have been a plan to make the locket look like a Horcrux and make it seem as though Kreacher only escaped by chance. Tom may have presumed that Kreacher would tell Regulus and if Regulus was disloyal he would go after it because surely an object like that would be of great interest to the Order. Even the location he chose is a place that would peak the Order's interest since he might know that Dumbledore heard the story of that cave from Mrs. Cole.

If Regulus brought it to the Order to study it could then start sowing discord among them (just as it did with the Golden Trio) and interrupting their unity and operations. Furthermore, Regulus would be exposed as a spy.

Of course it goes a bit wrong because Regulus dies by suicide. However, Tom may have still assumed he was a spy, or at the very least disloyal and not bothered to retrieve the locket since Regulus's faithlessness plus Tom's general resentment against powerful pureblood families who once disdained him may have turned him against the Black family and he may have felt leaving it with them was a good punishment. (And then of course he lost his body shortly thereafter).

It could also explain why even after he realizes Harry is hunting Horcruxes he makes no attempt to retrieve the locket even though he doesn't know whether it's destroyed. (Of course, he may have simply assumed that Harry was using Fiendfyre to destroy any Horcruxes he found but this is a viable alternative). This could also mean that he still had other Horcruxes out there that were not identified.

(I am also entertained by the fact that the locket behaving kind of like the One Ring even works in-universe since given when LOTR was written Tom could've read it and been inspired lol.)

Anyway, I think it's a really fun alternate concept to think about.

[capriddle]

I find Merope Gaunt an extremely interesting character. First of all, she is one of the last living heirs of Salazar Slytherin, she lives as an abused person and in extreme poverty. She manages to understand love, but in an extremely distorted, sick and possessive form and this transforms her into an executioner. She even falls in love with a muggle and, in fact, she betrays her family and her origins, even going so far as to sell her family heirloom. She is, in my opinion, one of the most controversial characters in the entire saga and it's a real crime that they cut her out of the films. What can I say, I hope in this case too that the series can resolve it by showing her story.

[coldemergency]

Hermione: Professor, we have a problem!

Dumbledore: What seems to be wrong?

Hermione: Harry, can you please tell Professor Dumbledore what you told me five minutes ago?

Harry: Well, I found a horcrux

Dumbledore: Oh my, that was quick

Harry: And I was holding onto it for a while and- do you ever get the urge to just eat something?

Dumbledore: Please tell me you didn’t-

Harry: Yeah I swallowed it

Harry: and I don’t feel great

Harry:

Harry: Tom is giving me indigestion

[professionalfoodstalker]

I really don’t wanna go back and read the Deathly Hallows, but is there a reason that Harry Ron and Hermione HAVE TO — absolutely positively mandatory — wear Salazar Slytherins locket? Why did they need to wear it? Was it not enough to keep it in Hermione’s beaded bag or am I misremembering something?? given how the locket played with their thoughts and feelings and emotions… Why did they need to physically wear it?

[lulublack90]

Prompt 19 - Passion

@jegulus-microfic August 19, Word count 596

Previous part First Wolfstar part

James was completely obstructed by the swirling darkness. Regulus reached out, trying to touch it, but it just forced his hand away, his fingertips only catching trailing wisps before he pulled it away. 

He returned his attention to the locket and was startled when he saw two dark eyes staring up at him from inside the locket’s windows. Regulus guessed they were what Voldemort’s eyes looked like before he made the Horcrux as they were now red.

He watched in horror as a figure began to emerge from within the locket. He’d expected it to be Voldemort, but when Sirius raised his head, icy blue eyes biting into him, he screamed out for help. 

“Pathetic,” Sirius sneered at him. “I don’t know why I bothered sending Rorbey to care for you and then orchestrated your rescue. I should have left you to rot. Worthless, useless, only a spare,” Sirius spat on the ground at Regulus’s feet. “It wasn’t even a competition between you and James, you know. The moment I met him, I chose him for my brother, and with James, who needs you?” Sirius buffed his nails against his perfectly tailored robes and blew gently across the top of them. That’s when Regulus began to notice the differences between this apparition and his actual brother, because whatever this was, it wasn't Sirius. This Sirius was the heir that his parents had wanted. His hair was shorter and perfectly set. The clothes he was wearing were the kind that he’d never willingly put on, his voice lacked any of the passion that was easily heard in every word out of Sirius’s mouth, and his eyes held none of the fire that usually burned behind them, they were blank and unfeeling, like his own up until recently. No, this wasn’t real. It was a distraction. 

“Mother and Father never wanted you to be their heir. It was always me, but they got stuck with you. Did you know they never even mourned you when they were told you were dead? No, they found it a nuisance as now they have to find another heir and guess who’s suddenly being welcomed back with open arms?” The Sirius apparition leaned towards him and whispered. “I only left because of you,” 

Regulus lunged. The sharp tip of the Basilisk’s fang pierced the locket and the Sirius apparition disappeared. He looked up and could see James again. He dropped the fang and rushed at James, tears he didn’t know he was crying streaming down his face. James caught him when he jumped and wrapped his strong arms around him protectively. 

He looked back at the now quiet locket and saw nothing but twisted metal and a thick oozy liquid. It was over. They’d done it. 

“Come on, love. Let’s go home,” James crooned in his ear as he stroked his hair. 

Regulus tentatively put his feet back on the ground and went to retrieve the fang and what was left of the locket, before he gave James his hand and they apparated away. 

Regulus felt a wave of relief wash over him when they landed in Potter Manor. He let out a deep breath and demanded James hold him by wrapping his arms around him and snuggling close. 

“I’m so glad it’s over,” He whispered into James’s chest. “We need to go tell Sirius and Remus what we’ve done,” 

“Later,” James said gently. “We need to sleep first.”

“Okay, later,” He said as he followed James to his bedroom. He collapsed on the bed, falling asleep in James’s arms, feeling victorious.   

Next part

[gearbox-doll]

Okay okay okay okay okay okay okay wait wait wait

Hear me out

12yo Harry writing to Tom in the diary at night, finding comfort in him and telling him all about his time at Hogwarts. Tom learning about Harry and finding, to his displeasure, that he's becoming attached. Harry goes to Tom when he's frustrated and sad, Tom is always there when Harry needs him.

Harry begging Tom to help him save Ginny when he gets to the chamber. Tom's expression twisting with just the slightest amount of guilt before it smooths over again. Harry feeling guilty throughout the entire fight.

Harry looking up at Tom and whispering "I'm sorry" right before he stabs the diary with the fang. Harry crying as Tom disappears, crying as he leaves the chamber, crying as he glances back and wishes it could have gone another way. Harry crying but refusing to tell the adults why because Tom made it clear to him that no one else would think Tom could be saved.

Harry pushing the guilt away and away in his mind for years as he goes through Hogwarts, unable to reconcile Dark Lord Voldemort with the image of Tom Riddle.

Harry getting the locket from Kreacher and opting to wear it most because it affects him the least. Or at least, that's what he tells Ron and Hermione.

Harry wears it because when he puts it on, it feels like a missing piece of him slides back into place.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

maybe the locket didn't possesses umbridge because it wasn't actually a horcrux. it could have been a powerfully cursed dark object without being a horcrux.

You make an entirely possible point that will eventually be discussed in an upcoming @rankheresy episode

[theonceandfuturequeenoftarts]

Tom tightened his hand in Harry's hair, directing him over to the kitchen table before turning him around and saying, “Up.”

Harry sat on top of it, giving the other man a look. “The table again?”

“I do believe there’s a saying that goes, ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.’”

“I’m a bit concerned I might have to fix it if we keep fucking on it…” Harry said with a frown, wriggling to test the table’s stability.

“Well, I doubt one of the beds is an option and I’m not kneeling on the ground, so unless you have a better idea, accept that some basic furniture maintenance is in your future and stop complaining.”

“Fine,” Harry sighed melodramatically, yelping when Tom twisted one of his nipples harshly in response. “Y’know, if you’re aiming to fix the bad behaviour, you should probably stop giving positive reinforcement.”

“It would appear that nothing short of stopping completely or killing you would have any sort of corrective effect on your behaviour.”

And then Harry got an idea. A wonderful, awful idea. This must have shown on his face, because the horcrux started to say, “That was not a suggestion–”

Harry cast his hand towards the kitchen counter and put all his scattered focus into summoning… and, when a handle hit his palm, he grinned in satisfaction, handing it over to Tom with a slight flourish, earning a raised eyebrow.

“You truly have no sense of self preservation at all, do you?” Tom asked, examining the knife.

“Not a bit,” Harry agreed. “Cut my shirt off?”

(crave gets slaked)

[mrsnerdygirl]

In my opinion, Voldemort knew that Regulus had gotten inside of the cave and had tried to steal the Horcrux. Like he had a million ways to know, and he was at his full power, and he wasnt going through a lot like he was when Dumbledore and Harry got inside of the cave.

He was more powerful, more vigilant, as well as more careful.

But i also do not think that he went to check on the cage. I mean, he knew Regulus would be dead, and the fact that no-one had seen him for a lot of time, confirmed it.

Plus, if there's one thing i know is that rumours do not start out of nothing. So when Sirius tells Harry that Regulus was killed under Voldemort’s orders, it means that someone must have said that. I mean they could have said that he was killed on a mission, but the fact that Voldemort had asked Regulus to do something for him, means that the rumours circulated that he was killed, from Voldemort.

And plus, it's not like Voldemort could give them a good explanation or say much, not even to his family, because if he did people would get suspicious like Regulus did, and they would come across his secret.

[imaslothandsowhat]

Locket Horcrux!Tom Riddle/Harry Potter

My little one shot for filthy relationship between the lethal seductive Locket Horcrux!Tom Riddle and Harry Potter. Hope you will enjoy!

[iamnmbr3]

Alphard: How was work?

Tom: ... Dramatic?

Alphard: Please tell me you didn't murder a client.

Tom: ...

Tom: So... I may have murdered a client.

Alphard *facepalming*: Why are you like this?

Tom: Would it make you feel better if I told you she's repeatedly tried to make unwanted advances on me?

Alphard: Yes actually.

Alphard: Well since you didn't rob her I suppose at least you probably won't get caught since there won't be anything linking you to the murder.

Tom: About that. How would you feel about a 10 year vacation abroad?

[whywouldisayprinter]

Finally finished this wip that I started forever ago! Inspired by @vivypotter 's fic "wear me like a locket around your throat"

(Djjfjs sadly this took me so long that idk which chapter inspired this lmao)