AN. I apologize for the long absence. Once again, please review.

Chapter 8

Tom was unsure what the next cause was. He had a sycophant in training in the form of Guiche. Additionally, he felt a resonance with the serpent, was it possible that the serpent was a horcrux created by his future self? If that was the case, there were two real options in front of him. The first was that he turn the snake into a co-conspirator in his plans for the young pinkette. However, no one knew Voldemort better than himself, and he was afraid that the Snake would eventually betray him as a way to ingratiate itself to the girl. Tom was able to predict this scenario because if he was able to describe himself in two works it would be poise and ambition.

The poise resulted from manipulating his jailers at the orphanage and creating the mask of the prince of Slytherin. In the former, it was a necessary facade to ensure that he was not bothered by the other orphans. The latter was much more significant. The mask was like an alter ego, that existed in opposition to his own personality. Sure, there was overlap. Tom did not deny that he was a polarizing figure and able to sway the masses to his side. The difference was how this occurred. Where Tom was cruel, his mask was benevolent. Where he was impatient, the mask was patient. As a result, Tom would lead through fear and passion, while his mask would rule through ideologies. Naturally, there was some overlap.

On the other hand, his ambition was much much greater. It was the result of wanting more. He was born as the lowest of the low, the unwanted bastard of a bewitched muggle and a desperate witch. Relegated to the uncaring rabble and masses in the orphanages, he was forced to learn two lessons. The first was that he needed to separate himself and his possessions from those who threatened him. The second was that he never wanted to be in this position again.

And so, like many of the thinkers, Tom read. He read science, mathematics, and even theatre. As a youth, he came across the quote that those who cannot do, teach. Naturally, for a selfish individual struggling for a sense of self identity, Tom would rather cut off his own foot than educate another.

Unlike a lesser individual who would curse their fate, Tom chose to focus on something greater. He did not believe in the three sisters sitting around their room of threads. He was a true student of William Shakespeare, namely he lived his life by the quote "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."

So naturally, as long as the Snake, Nagini, was potentially in possession of part of Voldemort's soul, it not to be trusted. As a result, Tom had a course of action. First, confirm the presence of the horcrux. Second, find a way to delicately explain the topic to Louise. Finally, there were a series of choices that he had to decide from.

The first was decide whether it was worth reabsorbing the fragment. This process would eliminate the prospect of any outside influence on Louise, but could have the potential of compromising Tom's true personality. As he stated, he was a selfish and prideful individual and found it difficult to imagine adding another half-century of experience to his memories. The change to his perception would have the potential to make him even more insane. On the other hand, the merger would be able to shed some light on his future self and answer some lingering questions that Tom possessed..

The second option was to be somewhat more active in this regard. In this scenario, the goal is to just kill the snake and the horcrux within. The benefit to this option was that there would be no compromising of Tom's soul in the process. The loss of memories and experience would be suboptimal, however, Tom knew that each splitting of the soul to make a horcrux made the soul increasingly weak. He had no idea how the soul fragment was affected by the presence of the reptilian soul of Nagini.