Someone Like You

I once knew someone like you.

Such a model student, grades always high, always polite, ever the gentleman. He was so good-looking too, chiseled features, vulnerable eyes, and the kind of face that you trust at first sight. This boy is going to be a great man, the teachers all whisper to each other in the staff room. Mark my words; he is going to achieve much.

Well, he did.

Signs were always there, but people trusted him so much, they chose to overlook it. They all wanted to protect this child, who had such, such terrible parents and the worst card fate could have dealt.

But he was brave. He persevered; he prospered.

Prospered too much. He lost his humanity in return for power. He killed those whom he pretended to love while looking at them in the eye. Watched the light go out in their anguished eyes.

You should know whom I am talking about. Tom Riddle.

***

You had so much anger and so little outlet for release. I hear you yell at your best friends and those people who loved you. Sooner or later your anger will isolate yourself from them. One by one they will walk away.

You will wonder why. And then you will start to believe that you cannot trust anyone. Because when the going gets tough, they will leave.

And then there will be lessons. You will see pain and destruction when Lord Voldemort makes his move. You will see the innocent die and the exploitative survive. People will betray you. They will double-cross you.

Then as you grow older, you will realize that the ideals that you have lived with do not exist in the world. Friends forever is a lie. The good will survive is a lie. People will get the justice they deserve is a lie.

When you have seen the thousandth example of a loyal, virtuous man who betrayed his friend in return for a chance to live, you will not forget. The same goes for a child who murders his sisters and brothers in the dark. You will not forget.

War dehumanizes people. That is why even the gentlest of boys can put aside their repulse and use women as toys. That is why generals and soldiers can bear to torture and break prisoners who look so much like their sons.

Soldiers torture prisoners and brothers fight each other to the death. You will learn to understand that sometimes the good people are the ones who do the darkest deeds. You will rationalize your actions. And soon they will become part of you.

When you fail to live up to people's expectations, they will drop you like a ton of bricks. They will run to find another hero. Another victim of whom they stab atop their spikes of morality and goodness.

In the end, you will realize that there is neither good nor evil in the world. You survive, you thrive, or your carcass gets thrown to the vultures. That is everything. Good and evil and morals and honour - they are what people talk about when they've won the war.

You don't hear the defeated say to their people, yes, yes, we lost, but we were honorable and brave and morally upright.

Not when thousands of their loved ones had died at the hands of their enemies. When homes are in ruins and their culture is going to get trampled down by the winners.

***

The prophecy was set in stone seventeen years ago. One day, the two of you shall meet. One of you will have to die. The question is not whether good will triumph over evil. It is who is stronger.

You, or him?

And I know you, son. You are his equal in every way. Along the way, Lord Voldemort's war will make you stronger. You will see the atrocities of war and learn to put them aside, simply discard them. You will harden your heart, your mind and your body.

You will win.

But you will be just as cruel as him.

See, I once know someone like you, Harry Potter. His circumstances and yours are parallel. And you are so much like him.