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~Lord Voldemort~
It certainly had all the hallmarks of a night to remember all on its own. A whistling of wind rustled through the trees, otherwise disturbing what most saw as ‘natural peace’.
I’d just sat down with a hot cup of Earl Grey tea; feet upwards in a lounging position and a book about Dark Magick poised to be read. Hardly a second went by when there was a frantic pounding at my door.
Which happened to be odd, given the hour of the night but also due to the fact that very few people knew where I’d been holed up.
There had been some consideration on my part to let whoever it was stew – stand outside in the cool evening air for a while in contemplation whether bothering me was truly necessary. Alas the insistent knocking must’ve been summoned from the depths of Tartarus, seeing as it was giving me a headache.
Sighing, I reluctantly stood from my comfortable seat and made my way towards the front of my current house – though it was more of a cottage – where I tore open the door with a much greater force than most would think appropriate.
Now, the number of times I’d been truly surprised, shocked , in my lifetime could be counted on a handful of fingers, yet this definitely had to make the list immediately.
For, there, standing just outside the threshold to my entryway was none other than Walburga Black herself. In all her radiant rage fueled glory. Her soft black curls were undone, wild, unkempt . In a way I hadn’t seen them since she decided that she was going to ‘grow up’ and dedicate herself to her family above all other desires.
Her hair seemingly spoke a million words to do with her frazzled state, but I couldn’t decipher any of them.
That wasn’t all, of course, because her hands had a vice-like grip on the boy – almost man – beside her. I recognised him instantly as her eldest son, Sirius. A Gryffindor, nearly seventeen, the rebel of the Black family; more so than Alphard ever was.
“You have two seconds to explain yourself,” perhaps my words could be seen as harsh for such a lovely old flame as her, but she did break things off between us for Orion .
She was, expectantly, unfazed by my tone of voice, although she didn’t leave me guessing for long. “Sirius here ran away.”
…I stand corrected, seeing as that didn’t tell me anything of import regarding why she was there.
When she didn’t elaborate, even after a full half minute, I could only roll my eyes at the Black family’s penchant for dramatics. “Okay, I’ll bite – what, in Merlin’s name , does that have to do with me? Shouldn’t you be dragging him to Orion’s doorstep to complain about this? Berating your husband for letting your son to… run away, as it were?”
The exhaled sigh that passed through Walburga’s lips were full of scrutiny and displeasure. Nothing I hadn’t heard a billion times before. “Well, clearly , he no longer wishes to be a Black and have the privilege of our family, so–”
“Wait just a second, I might’ve grown up in one, Wally, but I’m not some orphanage that you can drop your kids off at once they’ve decided to leave the nest before you’re ready–”
“Oh, I know.” Her lips twitched, only slightly and easily missed, into this sort of twisted, evil smirk. If she wasn’t literally attempting to dump her son into my life, I might’ve appreciated the expression a whole lot more.
“Okay, so care to explain, again , in full this time?”
“They make orphanages for wizards?” Those were the first words I’d heard Sirius speak since opening the door. Clearly he was just as confused by the situation as me, although part of his silence was likely due to the fact that I doubt his mother gave him much warning of the fact she was taking him to The Dark Lord .
“No, they don’t.”
“Well, then how–”
“Shut up! Both of you!” Walburga’s shouting easily disturbed whatever tranquility had been there that night, and probably all the local animal life as well. She was then shoving her son inside my doorway, forcing me to back up, lest our bodies were to collide. “Sirius, you didn’t want to be a Black anymore, so congratulations . Welcome to the end of the dead Gaunt line; you got your wish. A new family.”
“I was happy with the Potters…” he grumbled in response, sending death glares her way.
“Woah, wait, wait !” Reaching out, I stopped the wiley witch from closing the door and leaving, “Where in that conversation did I agree to adopt your son?”
A maniacal, soul crushing laugh bubbled out of her mouth. “Who said anything about adoption, Voldemort ? Because,” she paused to let out another chuckle, a mocking one, “last I checked, the biological father doesn’t need to adopt his own kid.”
“Except that I’m not–”
“Oh, but you are.”
“ What !?” Sirius screamed behind me in disbelief.
Walburga shoved several pieces of parchment into my hands, “and here’s the blood tests to prove it.” Leaning in closer, she whispered in my ear with a sort of smug satisfaction, “Congratulations – it’s a boy .”
She was leaving, fleeing , what’s basically my front lawn a moment later. The front door clicked close behind her.
My hands totally didn’t shake while I pulled the documents far enough away from my body to read them, and if anyone says otherwise they’re lying.
Unfortunately for me, there was the proof just like Walburga had said – stained in blood, my filthy birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle , listed clearly as the father of one Sirius Black.
“No no no no no, no way!” Said son was then having a bit of a panic attack behind me. “There’s no way – you !? My Father!? B-but, you– you’re… ” Suffice to say, there was more than just a little existential crisis going on.
“A mass murdering Dark Lord?” I finished his thought for him, thinking it was a good idea at the time.
“Exactly!”
Yet, the more I looked at him, the more of myself I saw. He didn’t have the soft features that Orion so elegantly flaunted in front of his inferiors, nor did he possess any of the sharp cheekbones or jaws that permeated the dirty blood from my father’s side. Instead, he more accurately presented a mix of my chosen, more gaunt-like characteristics and Walburga’s beauty.
Furthermore, upon inspection, his eyes weren’t the typical grey found in the Black family. No , staring into them wasn’t the same as getting lost in Walburga’s – these were orbs of a swirling darkness that promised to swallow anyone whole who dared to gaze too long into their abyss.
His hair more closely resembled that of his mother and her family, though a shade lighter.
“...I need to get out of here.” Sirius’ mumbling called me back out of my own mind.
“In case you hadn’t forgotten, you’re still sixteen and therefore not old enough to live on your own,” I wasn’t sure in the moment why I’d said such a thing – having a rebellious teenager around could not only derail but also totally ruin most, if not all, of my upcoming plans. And I didn’t know the first thing about him or how to take care of another human being, so logically I should’ve been thrilled for him to run away again.
Instead, my chest pulsed angrily.
“You can’t keep me locked up here!” A fire bloomed in his eyes – adrenaline and a need to defy boiling over, while his breath picked up in repressed fear.
There was something, dare I say, scandalously attractive about him in that moment.
“Just you watch me,” it only took one wave of my hand to put the entire hovel into lockdown, “or need I remind you who I am?”
“Th-that’s kidnapping!” Something inside of him shook with a dangerous sort of anticipation.
“Well, according to this ,” I held up the parchment to his face, “that accusation would never fly in court. Especially since your mother dropped you off here, Sirius .” A smug smirk graced my lips at the thrill which ran up my body when saying his name.
Would it be a bad thing if I wanted to kiss him? Sirius’ thoughts were suddenly on full display, practically broadcasting across a Wireless; I didn’t even need to utter the spell, Legilimency .
“I’m sure the rest of society would see it as a horrible, terrible thing, but I’m not sure that I’d complain too much.” For emphasis of my words, I tilted my body closer to his.
“Did I say that outloud?” He was mostly asking himself, though I still heard the words.
“Nope, you were just thinking very loudly.”
A hot red blush creeped up his neck and cheeks, but it seemed that the night was already crazy enough, therefore emboldening him to throw logic and care to the wind. “In that case – biological father or not, mass murderer or not, you’re sexier than Hell .”
And he was all the best parts of myself and Walburga; at least, the physical attributes.
“You’re alluring yourself,” I took a step closer to him, eliminating whatever space there had been.
A certain, lustful longing passed in his dark, chasm-like eyes. It was all the warning I received before having his fingers wrap around my hair, gripping it, and pull me down ever so slightly.
Our lips connected in a heated kiss before I had even a singular moment to truly comprehend everything that was and had gone on. Not that I was complaining – since it would seem that, if soulmates existed, I clearly created my own.
Sirius isn’t someone I’d let go of from that day forward.
Although, one question still remained – how, in the name of all things unholy, did Walburga find where I’d been staying?
Fin… or is it?