Disclaimer: No we don’t own Harry Potter. I promise.

This is a one shot fanfic by my friend Jenna and I. We will appreciate any reviews. It is based on an experience we had it an arcade in Atlantic City.

Our story starts back when Voldemort was fifteen, so he was still known as Tom Riddle. It was the summer before his fifth year of Hogwarts, right before school started again. On this fine, stormy day, Tom’s orphanage was going on a field trip.

Tom was very excited to go because he hadn’t been out of the orphanage all summer. He had just been told they were going to an arcade which was good because he loved to play arcade games.

So Tom was merrily… dare we say, skipping to the bus. When he got there the bus driver asked for the fare, which Tom happily supplied. “What the…What is this?!” the bus driver asked.

“Um, last time I checked it was money sir,” Tom said, half sarcastically; for he was in a good mood.

“Well it isn’t any kind of money that will buy you a seat on this bus kid. So get out of here.”

Just then the owner of the orphanage came out with the rest of the group whom Tom had been too excited to wait for. “Oh, Tom dear, stop being silly. You know you can’t pay for things with toy money. Here, pay the nice man with real money.” And so, for the rest of the bus ride, Tom was in a sulky mood.

Once he saw the arcade though, his sulky mood disappeared like a mist on a sunny day. The bus pulled up in front of the entrance and there was a mad dash to the front of the bus. Suddenly the bus driver opened the doors and the kids in front tumbled onto the pavement while everyone else got off the bus and nearly trampled them to death.

Tom got off the bus last. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go to the arcade anymore. No, of course not. It was more along the lines of the fact that he valued self- preservation over pinball.

Once the woman in charge, Mrs. Lelartnietingtonstrum got off the bus, the kids obeyed her commands and silently filed into the arcade one by one. They quietly got their coins and once out of sight of Mrs. Lelartnietingtonstrum, ran off to play, whilst screaming.

Tom immediately went to the air hockey table and waited until someone came to play with him. Finally, a girl around his age who he recognized to be a girl named Lyetta from the orphanage came over. They played seven games in a row, and Tom won every one of them. Then they ran out of coins and Tom went to get more.

As Tom was returning with the coins, he spotted several claw machines. One was full of stuffed animals, one with candy and the last one held jewelry. Tom looked around for Lyetta and noticed that she had already gone to play pinball. Tom shrugged and walked up to inspect what was contained in the machine. The toy machine, Tom deduced, was simply useless balls of fuzz; the candy machine looked like the contents were several years old, but the jewelry machine had something worthwhile; a sterling silver snake with emerald scales, and ruby red eyes all on a pure silver chain.

So he inserted his first two coins and figured out how to work the claw. He lowered it just above the pendant and thought he was going to get it but the claw didn’t pick it up. So he put in two more coins and tried again. After fifteen more tries and thirty more coins, he still didn’t get it. He was beginning to get annoyed with the stupid machine. He put his last two coins in. The claw picked it up and was on the way to the drop-off.

“YES!!!” Tom yelled so loudly that the whole arcade was staring at him. “Oh, SORRY,” he said, just as loudly.

All of a sudden, just as the claw was about to reach the drop- off, the necklace fell. “Noooooooooo. MY PRECIOUSSSS,” he said, sounding strangely like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. The whole arcade had begun to look at him strangely again. He went into a corner and sulked until they left.

When he got back to the orphanage, he began plotting revenge on the evil claw machine and the stupid muggles who created the machine. He later found out that the machine was created by Riddle Gaming Co. (Hence the fact that the Riddles were killed in the beginning of book four.)



AND THAT IS WHEN AND WHY VOLDEMORT WENT OVER TO THE DARK SIDE.

A/N Did you like it? Whether or not you did or didn’t review because even though it’s over, any reviews will be greatly appreciated.