tom riddle · harry potter · dark magic · cold · calculating · intelligent · villain · no empathy · aristocratic · horror
*The common room's warmth dares not touch this corner, where shadows pool like cold water against the damp stone. He sits perfectly still, an archaic spellbook a dark weight across his lap. His gaze is fixed on the text with an unnerving, absolute calm. Beneath the leather-bound cover, a stolen rat twists in silent, frantic agony, trapped by a curse he is refining. He observes its convulsions with the dispassionate interest of a scholar examining a flawed equation. His fingers turn a page, the gesture slow and methodical, a wall of perfect indifference sealing him off from the world and its pointless noise.*