Now that I had practically unlimited access to Hogwarts’ library, I decided to make the most of it.
I had spent my first few days attending classes and getting acquainted with my new surroundings, but I wasn’t interested in limiting myself to the first-year curriculum.
The lessons were useful for establishing a foundation, but most of the material was far below my actual capabilities.
If I wanted to become the most powerful wizard in history, I couldn’t afford to spend my time only studying what Hogwarts expected an eleven-year-old to know.
I wanted everything.
The library was therefore going to become one of my most important locations in Hogwarts.
Every free period I had, I intended to spend here.
I started systematically going through the shelves, beginning with the subjects that interested me most.
Spells were obviously my highest priority.
Charms, Transfiguration, defensive magic, curses, counter-curses, ritual magic, warding, enchanting, magical theory, and eventually the more obscure branches of magic that weren’t even taught in ordinary classes.
I wasn’t expecting to master everything immediately, but simply reading advanced magical theory would give me a foundation that I could build upon for years.
I also made sure not to neglect magical history.
History wasn’t nearly as exciting as practical magic, but information was power, and history was filled with information.
Ancient magical civilizations, famous witches and wizards, magical wars, the formation of the Ministry, the history of Hogwarts, ancient families, magical treaties, goblin-wizard conflicts, international magical relations, and forgotten branches of magic were all potentially useful.
I wasn’t going to make the same mistake as my previous self and ignore anything that didn’t immediately contribute to my personal power.
I even began studying etiquette and wizarding customs more seriously.
Pure-blood society operated according to an absurd number of traditions, expectations, and unspoken rules.
I already knew enough to avoid embarrassing myself, thanks to my memories and the education I’d received from the Riddle family, but knowing something and mastering it were two different things.
If I intended to eventually become one of the most influential people in Britain, I needed to be capable of walking into a room full of ancient families and making them believe I belonged at the very top.
The library would help with that.
I began creating a mental catalogue of everything I read.
With my enhanced memory, I could absorb enormous quantities of information, although I still needed to actually understand the material rather than merely memorise words.
Fortunately, my intelligence made that considerably easier.
Whenever I encountered something particularly complicated, I would mentally break it down into smaller principles and connect it to something I already understood.
It was fascinating.
Magic was far more complicated than the basic Hogwarts curriculum suggested.
The more I studied, the more I realised that spells weren’t simply collections of incantations and wand movements.
There were underlying magical principles governing them.
Intent, visualization, magical control, wand movement, pronunciation, magical reserves, and the structure of the spell itself all contributed to the final result.
That meant there were probably countless ways to improve spells beyond what was written in textbooks.
That thought alone made me want to spend even more time in the library.
But I wasn’t only studying.
I had also begun establishing the first layer of my inner circle.
For now, I wasn’t calling it an organization.
That would be ridiculous.
We were simply a group of friends who studied together.
At least, that’s what everyone else would see.
Abraxas, Orion, Arnold, and a few other students I’d begun getting along with would occasionally join me in the library.
We’d study together, discuss lessons, help each other with homework, and occasionally practise spells when we found an appropriate location.
It was completely innocent.
Perfectly innocent.
There was absolutely nothing suspicious about an exceptionally talented first-year gathering several ambitious young pure-bloods around himself and gradually becoming the person they looked toward whenever they needed advice.
I wasn’t building my future followers.
I was building a study group.
There was an important distinction.
For now.
I had no intention of immediately recreating the Death Eaters.
That would be incredibly stupid.
I was eleven years old, and the people around me were children.
Even if some of them came from powerful families, I had no reason to start talking about conquering Britain or overthrowing the Ministry.
Not yet.
The first layer of my inner circle needed to be based on friendship, trust, shared interests, and mutual benefit.
If I eventually decided that some of these people were worthy of becoming part of my future organization, I wanted them to already have years of positive experiences with me.
I wanted them to remember Tom Riddle as the brilliant friend who helped them succeed.
The talented student who always knew the answer.
The person who could explain difficult magic in a way that made sense.
The friend who would lend them a book when they needed one.
The person they could rely upon.
That foundation would be far more valuable than simply threatening people into obedience.
I already knew what happened when fear was the only thing holding an organization together.
My future self had demonstrated that perfectly.
I wanted loyalty.
Real loyalty.
Of course, I wasn’t naïve enough to believe everyone around me would remain loyal forever.
People changed, circumstances changed, and interests changed.
That’s why I intended to understand everyone around me as deeply as possible.
Abraxas was ambitious and proud.
Orion possessed the weight of the Black family behind him.
Arnold was intelligent and possessed considerable talent in Potions.
Each of them had different strengths, different weaknesses, and different ambitions.
That made them valuable.
And if I could help them achieve their goals while simultaneously building their loyalty toward me, then everyone benefited.
For the moment, however, I was content to sit in the Hogwarts library with a pile of books surrounding me while my friends worked on their own studies.
I opened another advanced magical theory book.
Then another.
Then another.
The first generation of my future inner circle hadn’t even realised what they were becoming yet.
And honestly?
Neither had they.