Could Tom Riddle really build a following in school

[tygershark.livejournal.com]

As we all know the books left a lot of questions unanswered. So many things are contradictory and just flat out don't make any sense. 

I've often thought about Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts and those memories that Dumbledore showed Harry. Many of the things Dumbles told Harry didn't make any sense. Worse some of the reasons he gave Harry for the things that he did make even less sense. I'm thinking here of Trelawney's interview being held in the Hog's Head because it was raining. Was she related to the Wicked Witch of the West? Did she fear death by melting? But I digress, back to my musings about Tom.

How was it that Tom was able to amass a loyal following that included the likes of Avery, Lestrange, and one can only assume Malfoy. Although they must have been the fathers of Lucius Malfoy's generation. I know Dumbledore tells Harry that he believed Tom did it by virtue of his Parslemouth ability, his charm, good looks, and superior intellect, but I have to wonder. Perhaps I'm too cynical, but during those "lessons" Dumbledore is so cagey in what he reveals I really have trouble taking anything he says at face value.

So here is my thought process, Tom starts Hogwarts in 1938 and he is sorted into Slytherin. The boy's origins at this point are a complete mystery. All that is known is that he was born and raised in a Muggle orphanage. With the great importance placed upon bloodlines and family ties, it is reasonable to assume that the child's parents were not magical. Having children out of wedlock would have been nearly unthinkable to the society stuck in the Victorian age. So as far as Riddle's housemates could see he was a muggle-born or at best a half-blood. Even him being a half-blood I think they would've discounted because again bloodline and family were so important. He could've been the product of a sexual assault but I think in their minds that would've been just as bad since he would've been a bastard. 

What I picture is this muggle-born boy being sorted into the house that values blood purity over everything, he's there on a bursary/scholarship so he's penniless. He would have only second-hand robes and supplies, he would have known little to nothing about the wizarding world and its customs. We already know that Snape was not well treated within his house for being poor, it is possible that the difference was that Tom was attractive whereas Snape was not. I can see that Tom's housemates might have made his time there a living hell. I can even see that he might have felt that but for the ability to do magic he was no better off than at the orphanage.

So what about his Parselmouth abilities, could he have won his housemates over by displaying one of the traits of their founder? Possibly, but then again that might have made his situation worse. I think that the Slytherins would only have seen this jumped-up little "mudblood" having delusions far above his station and made it their mission to put him in his place. 

I just don't buy that the Slytherins would have followed someone that as far as they knew was a "mudblood." Remember, Dumbledore tells Harry that Tom found out about his mother's family in the summer of his sixteenth year. Even if he found out much earlier about his family, I think the Slytherins would not have believed him or him trying to appropriate a status to which he had no right. I'm also not really sure about Tom's inclusion in the Slug Club unless it was for his brilliance alone. As a muggle-born or even a half-blood, Tom wouldn't have had much in the way of future potential to attract Sluggy's attention.

Dumbledore told Harry that he had considerable trouble locating anyone with memories of Tom's school days and those that did were reluctant to talk about it. But why would reluctance matter to a Master Legillimens? For that matter, why could Dumbledore not get the "true" memory off Slughorn? 

In the alternate universe of my headcanon Dumbledore implanted those memories into Slughorn. The reason he couldn't find memories of Tom's time at Hogwarts is that everyone remembered Tom's school career very differently and what they remembered wouldn't fit the narrative Dumbledore wanted. In this alternate universe, Tom is treated as the muggle-born he appears to be and he resents the stuck up pure-bloods and vows revenge. He finds out he's descended from the Slytherin line but he keeps that information to himself. It is only after he leaves Hogwarts and vanishes for those ten years that he becomes Lord Voldemort. Then when he comes back to England no one except Dumbledore suspects that he's Tom Riddle. Voldemort avenges himself on Malfoy, Lestrange, Avery, and the rest by coopting the pure-blood dogma and enslaving their children. All the while taking great pleasure in seeing their sons and daughters groveling at his feet. 

That sounds much more interesting to me than what we got. Tom was descended from rotten stock so that's why he's evil. Something for me to consider writing, maybe after I'm finished with my present fic.

Comments

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/He didn't seem to have ever tried charming people pre-Hogwarts, so it would probably take him time to learn those manipulative skills/

One possible reason for the shift is because Tom realized that he wasn't the only big fish in the pond anymore once he arrived at Hogwarts. He didn't have to be charming in the orphanage because everyone was scared of him and nobody knew what he was. But at Hogwarts, nobody would write off his actions as bizarre 'accidents.' Instead of teaching him to reform his behavior (as Dumbledore likely hoped), Hogwarts taught him to hide it better.

/maybe he could magically influence people into admiring him? Probably not all at once, or it would look suspicious, but maybe his housemates "warmed up to him" unusually quickly/

Still, how many people would need to be charmed by Tom before somebody started wondering why everyone seemed to make an exception for him? Imagine if Severus had this ability and more and more people started to admire him despite his background and greasy hair? Even if everyone recognized how gifted he was at potions, somebody would've gotten suspicious of how this 'jumped-up upstart' was suddenly everyone's darling, especially since everyone at the school is aware that mind-altering spells and potions exist.

/He might think, "They couldn't check the book occasionally and make sure wizard orphans are adopted by wizarding families? They just left me in that orphanage with nothing! No, less than nothing--with the threat of being carted off to an asylum! I'll show them..."/

That would be an interesting motive and one that could also resonate with Harry, but unfortunately something like that is never explored in canon. Tom says to Dumbledore that he doesn't want to go back to the orphanage, but it's taken for granted that he must return there. Just like it's taken for granted that Harry must live with the Dursleys, and the series doesn't question that either.

In fact, I think that there was a discussion a while ago in this community about that premise: why wizards don't set up orphanages or adoption agencies for magical orphans. They're so concerned about secrecy, but they don't ever think of the ramifications of allowing magical children to be raised by Muggle families who aren't in on the secret.

[sunnyskywalker]

Oh, yes, I think that is a plausible reason why he changed tactics. I'm just wondering how he learned to charm people, and how long it took. Instinctive Legilimency? Observing Dumbledore? And was it a few months, or a few years before he really succeeded? (People sometimes retcon their own memories based on what happened later, so if Tom was popular from, say, the middle of third year on, people might forget that they barely noticed him for the first year and then only noticed him a bit the second, and so on.)

I really wonder how much Tom's looks helped him. Lockhart demonstrates his ineptitude blatantly and publicly on numerous occasions, but he's apparently gotten away with this for years because of his fabulous hair and dazzling smile. (He can't have Oblivated everyone.) Maybe wizards are even greater suckers for good looks than we are?

And there's always self-delusion and good old-fashioned hypocrisy. If purebloods are the most magically talented, and Tom is ridiculously talented, then he must be pureblood, QED. He doesn't know who his parents really were, and who knows whether the orphanage recorded their real names? So he's a pureblood, if maybe a bastard one, who got lost in the Muggle world by accident somehow, and we can all sleep soundly at night without questioning our society's fundamental beliefs. Or, maybe he's a half-blood, but obviously his wizarding parent was really special, so he isn't like those other half-bloods, and... look, he's just different, okay? No, it isn't logical, but lots of people are illogical in exactly that way. Plus, you know what Hermione says about wizards and logic...

[oryx_leucoryx]

And there's always self-delusion and good old-fashioned hypocrisy. If purebloods are the most magically talented, and Tom is ridiculously talented, then he must be pureblood, QED.

Slughorn's words in the memory add up to that. Tom says his background might be a hindrance in the Ministry, Slughorn responds with saying that his talent must mean he comes from the best wizarding stock or words to that effect.