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AU where Dumbledore is all like: I should have known Tom was evil. His mother date raped his father and that was how he was born. He doesn't understand love and never will.
NOPE! He's just an autistic child who grew up in an abusive environment during the Depression and World War II and developed an antisocial personality disorder as a result!
Dumbledore: You shouldn't steal. Stealing is bad.
Little Tom: But why?
Dumbledore: Stealing is wrong.
Little Tom, frustrated: But why???
Orion, trying to explain how a spell works: You just have to feel it.
Tom, deadpan: I beg your finest pardon?
Dumbledore: How well can you empathize, Tom?
Tom, who mentally cannot put himself "in other people's shoes": That's a made up word.
Dumbledore: Tom seems too good at masking his true nature around others. I am the only one who sees him for what he is.
Tom, almost vibrating with overstimulation: If someone gets into my personal space without permission again, I will stab them in the eye.
Voldemort: Step aside, silly girl.
Lily Potter: Please, not Harry!
Voldemort, who had a plan:...
Voldemort, internally: Crap. Now what am I supposed to do?