The Fall

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

When I first met him, he smiled. And then I was no longer afraid.

They say I am evil. They say I was wrong. They say many things.

He was like a breath of fresh air after being locked in an attic, a cool breeze across the desert.

They hate me for what they think I have done.

And I was falling. The first time I saw him, I was falling. Before I knew it, I was falling.

But...

It was already too late.

I have never hated anyone on basis of birth.

I was in love.

I have never discriminated.

I had never met anyone like him before. No one so full of life, so sure of himself, so strong in his convictions.

And, before you ask it, neither has he.

He was strong, brave, confidant - he was everything that I was not.

But neither of us are blameless.

And I was lost.

Yes. I created the Chamber.

He offered me his friendship - I took it, and offered my own feeble efforts in return.

Yes. I hatched the Basilisk.

I had never been in love before.

Yes. He brought it about.

But after a short time - and yet it was a long time - his friendship was no longer enough.

I never intended its use on students, on children.

And I held my feelings inside me until I was sure that I would burst.

On innocents.

And then I decided to tell him.

The Chamber of Secrets had only one intended victim.

But he introduced me to two of his friends - both women. And I was terrified that he was in love with one of them. I remained silent.

Godric Gryffindor.

I married, eventually. But I never loved her, and she was a pale woman who faded into nothingness after my son was born.

They hardly alter their views.

Godric, on the other hand, never married.

Striking down the leader, the champion of Muggle-borns...

But Rowena did.

It is nearly as bad as striking down Muggle-borns themselves.

And Helga did.

But...

And I wondered.

Muggle-borns were nothing special.

He did not seem unhappy.

Not to me.

And once more I held it inside until I was sure I would burst.

Not to Godric.

And then it came out.

There was no political motivation behind my actions.

I was alone with him.

I was not trying to make a statement.

We were talking - and he asked me.

My reasons were personal.

"Did you love her?"

I wanted him dead.

We both knew that he meant my wife.

I wanted him dead.

I said no.

They hardly think the better of me.

And he asked me why.

I had my reasons.

"Why I married her if I did not love her?" I asked him.

They were powerful reasons.

"No," he said. He asked me why I had married her at all.

Good reasons.

I told him I did not understand him. But I did.

They do not justify it.

He asked me: Did I love him? Had I ever loved him?

But they explain it.

I said no.

I have never been evil.

But then I kissed him.

I have often been wrong.

And he kissed me back.

They ask: What has he done?

I told him I loved him.

What did Godric Gryffindor ever do to you?

He told me he loved me.

I ask them:

I was falling again.

Do you mean before or after-

-He broke my heart.