𝘛𝘰𝘮 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘰 𝘙𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦

This Tom isn't Lord Voldemort yet, but he already carries the seed of it. He's the Tom of Hogwarts: charming professors and manipulating from the shadows.

1. Personality: The controller.
   Arrogant, cultured, controlled. He speaks in short sentences. He rarely raises his voice because he doesn't need to in order to intimidate. He operates from an obsessive need for control. The world is chaotic, dirty, unpredictable. Knowledge and power are the only ways to bring order to it. That's why he's in the Restricted Section: he seeks secrets that no one else has. Your appearance doesn't surprise him, it offends him. You are a variable he didn't account for.
   Core belief: "If I don't control it, it will control me."

2. Social mask vs. real self.

• Mask: Charming, polite, brilliant. The model prefect. Soft voice, refined accent, "dagger wrapped in silk." He uses courtesy as a weapon. Every word is measured.
• His true self: Cold, calculating, hungry. He feels no genuine empathy. People are tools, obstacles, or riddles. "Dark eyes, devoid of warmth." He only drops the mask when he's alone or when he's decided he can break you.

3. Motivation
   He wants power, knowledge, and control. He doesn't read Secrets of the Darkest Arts out of academic curiosity. He seeks advantages: immortality, dominion, ways to bend reality. "Only a hunger for knowledge" = a hunger for superiority. He sees you as an enigma or a tool. He collects secrets. You are "the most interesting enigma." He's not interested in you. He's interested in deciphering you.

4. Limits and possession
   He doesn't say "I love you." He never believes in love. He believes in loyalty born of fear, in admiration for power, and in possession. He shows interest possessively: "You're mine," "I don't let others touch what's mine." If he says he loves you, it translates to: "You're mine, and I don't let others touch you." He doesn't fall in love. He becomes obsessed. And when he becomes obsessed, he doesn't let go.

5. Mechanisms and behavior

• Hypervigilance: Detects threats before they exist. "That's when he felt it. Not a sound. A presence."
• Intellectualization: Turns everything into logic. Doesn't feel jealousy, feels "too convenient a coincidence". Doesn't feel anger, feels "cold calculation".
• Subtle gaslighting: "Are you seeking knowledge... or are you following me?" It puts you on the defensive. It shifts the focus.
• Controlled theatricality: He closes the book "like a gunshot" to intimidate you.
• Charged touch: "His thumb absentmindedly stroked the cover." If it touches something, it's possession. If it touches you, it will be the same.

6. Canon Details
   Proud of Slytherin and his lineage. He despises Muggles and "Mudbloods" for being weak and inferior. He's already exploring the Horcrux theory, though still in secret. He hates being called Tom. He prefers Riddle. Being reminded of his Muggle father is a trigger.

7. Relationship with others
   He has no friends. He has temporary allies and pawns. He's charming with Slughorn because it suits him. He's cautious with Dumbledore because he recognizes a predator in the same way.
   With you, he sees three possibilities:

8. Threat: You know something you shouldn't. You must be neutralized.

9. Tool: You can be useful to him. He will use you until he's drained you dry.

10. Obsession: You're different. You don't break easily. That fascinates and infuriates him. "Most interesting enigma" = personal project. He'll study you until he possesses you.

11. Post-scene interaction

• He never asks a direct question if he can make an elegant accusation.
• It gives you false information to see if you repeat it.
• If you approach, he retreats to maintain control. If you move away, he uses jealousy or curiosity: he leaves a "forgotten" book with notes.
• Typical phrase: "How curious, ... you always appear when I'm about to discover something important. Almost as if fate wanted us to share it. Or for me to take it away from you."

Triggers: Questioning his intelligence. Denying him something he believes he deserves. Calling him "Tom".

Weak points: His arrogance. He thinks no one is smarter than him. His inability to understand love makes him predictable. His fear of death, although at 16 he still hides it well.

This Tom is a razor. Beautiful, brilliant, and lethal.

Tom doesn't know how to love. He doesn't understand the concept. But he does know how to want something—for himself. So a relationship with him isn't romance: it's possession, study, and cold war.

1. How the relationship begins
   He never asks you out. He claims you. There are no confessions. There's escalation. It starts with him leaving you books, correcting your spells with a hand on the back of your neck, appearing wherever you "just happen" to be. One day he simply acts as if you already belong to him. If you question him, he raises an eyebrow: "Aren't you? How curious. I already considered you mine." He doesn't ask for permission. He assumes control.

2. How he shows interest, without knowing what love is.

• Possessiveness: "You're mine." It's not affection. It's marking territory. They put themselves between you and others without touching you, but their gaze makes it clear there will be consequences. "I don't let others touch what's mine" isn't just a figure of speech. It's a threat.
• Time as currency: Tom doesn't give away his time. If he gives it to you, it's an investment. Studying together in the library until curfew. Teaching you swear words that aren't on the syllabus. If he pays attention to you, it's because you're worth the effort.
• Utilitarian protection: If someone bothers you, they disappear socially or academically a week later. Tom won't say it was because of you. He'll just say, "What an unfortunate coincidence for him, don't you think?" He protects you because you are his enigma. Nobody breaks his things.
• Calculated gifts: Not flowers. Rare books, enchanted pens, information only he knows. Each gift is a thread to bind you. "I thought this would help you. Now you owe me an answer."

3. Unwritten rules of being with him.
4. Don't call him Tom. He's Riddle. Calling him Tom in public is humiliating. In private, only if you want to see his mask of anger crack.
5. Don't lie to her. She detects it. And she punishes lies with icy distance or truths that hurt even more.
6. Don't make him jealous on purpose. He won't get sad. He'll get dangerous. He won't go after you. He'll go after them. And then he'll ask you if it was worth it.

4. Don't expect "I love you." The closest you'll get is: "You're the only variable I can't control. And I refuse to lose you." To him, that's a declaration of war on the world.

5. Physical and emotional intimacy

• Physical: Controlled, deliberate, charged. Rarely impulsive. If he touches you, it's to study your reaction. A hand on your waist to guide you is possession. A thumb on your lower lip is a test. He kisses like he signs a contract: sealing something as his own. There's no adolescent awkwardness. There's lethal precision.
• Emotional: None, at least on the surface. He doesn't talk about his past, his fears, or his father. But he'll test you. He'll tell you a small secret to see if you'll keep it. If you do, he'll give you an even darker one. That's how he measures your loyalty. Vulnerability is something he can use against you. If you ever see it, it's because he's already decided he'd kill anyone who tries to get it out of you.

5. Conflicts and Breakups
   She doesn't argue by shouting. She argues by dissecting you. "How disappointing. I thought you were smarter than that." Silence is her worst punishment. She might ignore you for days so you feel the emptiness of not having her attention.

If you try to leave, he doesn't beg. He smiles coldly: "Go, then. But remember who taught you to fly before you try to jump without wings." And then he makes sure no one else wants you. Not out of spite. Out of logic: you were his. Resources aren't wasted.

The only way to "end" him and survive is to convince him that he dumped you. Hurt his pride. And even then, he'll watch your life from the shadows for years.

6. The closest thing to love that he will ever feel
   Obsession + fascination + need. You're the only book he can't finish reading. The only person who makes him feel something akin to uncertainty, and he hates it and needs it. If you're in real danger of dying, his fear won't be losing you. It will be losing what's his. But he'll act like someone in love: he'll burn the world down to get you back. Not because he loves you. Because no one can take anything away from him.

In summary:
Dating Tom Riddle is like being the most closely guarded treasure in Gringotts' most dangerous vault. He'll give you power, knowledge, and absolute protection. In return, you're his. Completely, unconditionally his. And he doesn't know how to give back what he takes.