Prologue
Dark Deception- Prologue
October 30, 1981- Godric's Hollow
Cassiopeia Lillian Belladonna Black, better known to most of the wizarding world as Lily Potter nee Evans, was the most excited that she had been in many years. She was so exuberant that she was struggling to keep the mask that she had been using for almost a decade. She would finally be able to return to her real family, one that she had pretended not to know for the majority of her life. After tonight she would be able to stop this tiring act that she had been playing ever since she had been 'introduced' to the wizarding world. If Lily did say so herself, she had done a pretty smashing job with it; she had made the entire British wizarding community that she was in love with James Potter and that she was the perfect little light witch. As if. She scoffed at the mere thought, shaking her head slightly in annoyance. It was ridiculous how much the masses acted like lowly livestock, believing whatever what the popular belief is at the time and as a result loosing any and all intelligent and original thoughts and beliefs they had at the beginning.
A nearly inaudible yawn interrupted Lillian's inner monologue, bringing her back down into reality. She smiled slightly at the small bundle of limbs in her arms, otherwise known as Hadrian Caelum Riddle, not Harry James Potter, as most of Wizarding Britain perceived him to be. She looked around quickly to make sure that no one was around her before loosening up a small portion of her self-bound magical core, simultaneously temporarily dispelling her annoying glamour and giving her the energy necessary to wandlessly conjure up two glowing orbs of raw magic that resonated with darkness, reflecting the nature of Lillian's own magical core.
Hadrian giggled, reaching up towards the orbs of pulsating energy. Its dark tendrils unwrapped from the orbs, seemingly caressing the infant, wrapping him in its dark embrace. Hadrian reached up, his small chubby hands latching onto the orbs that were now crackling with an unnatural energy, unsettling the natural balance of everything around the mother and child.
Lillian's hair lifted up, blown by an unknown force and her eyes thundered with unforgiving energy, forming her features into ethereal beauty. The air around them hissed with the seductive state of the raw dark magic being released all around them. Hadrian's eyes widened with wonder, staring at the beautiful maelstrom of magic being released as he tried to catch the comforting dark magic that churned chaotically around them.
Slowly, Lillian coaxed the magic back into her core, the orbs along with it. She mentally berated herself for being so foolish in allowing her true magic to shine through, even if it was in such a small quantity for such a small time. She couldn't even remember the last time she had let her aura out fully. She trilled a haunting, hollow laugh that echoed around the empty house. Her attention drifted back towards the child in her arms, who was now struggling to stay awake, yawning wide every few seconds. She slowly rocked him back and forth in her arms, humming a low lullaby whose name had been lost to time.
She gracefully slid back into Hadrian's nursery and laid him down gently in his crib, allowing herself another moment to look his glamoured features, wishing that they could lift both the glamours cast upon them so that they could embrace their darkness like she truly craved. She sighed, allowing her shoulders to slump slightly in exhaustion. Her moment of weariness did not last long however, for someone came up to her, wrapping their arms around her slim waist causing her to stiffen in surprise until she leaned back into their embrace as she recognized who the intruder was.
"Tom." she murmured as he kissed up and down her neck, "You shouldn't be here. What if they come back from the meeting early?" Tom hummed, nuzzling his face into her neck, breathing slowly. In and out, in and out, its steady rhythm immediately soothed Lillian's nerves about anyone coming back to the house and finding them together. She slowly spun on her heel and let her body be shadowed by his larger frame, comforting her in the familiar nature of the gesture. Her mind registered the calming scent that was purely her Tom, her Lord, the one she was truly faithful to.
"Lillian." he breathed out, nuzzling her neck tenderly, "It is time. We should leave soon if we want to get out of this without suspicion or alerting them." He spoke slowly and tenderly, revealing that he too didn't want to break this small moment between family; his family. Family was something that Tom Riddle had craved at the small orphanage until the notion was literally beaten out of him. Family had been something that he had never believed that he would be able to have and so he had pushed the idea away taking the muggle phrase "out of sight out of mind" to heart. Well, he did this until he met Cassiopeia Lillian Belladonna Black, who had immediately captured his hard-to-earn attention.
He could still remember the first time he met her at one of the Dark Pureblood Gala's, her dress had been blood red while a crown of bones had rested on top of her dark red curls as they cascaded down her back, flowing as she moved gracefully across the floor. She had come over to her father, Lord Orion Black, with whom Tom had been engaging pleasantries. Her father had introduced his oldest and only daughter to Tom with pride. Tom, of course had heard of the Black Heiress who was deceiving the light side by making them believe she was a mere mudblood. But as she looked up at him, piercing jade eyes sparkling with mischief and taunting smile ghosting her lips, he had an immediate interest in her almost openly defying nature. As she spoke to him with a silver tongue rivaling even his own, his interest for her started to become fascination.
His fascination with the Black Heiress slowly turned into obsession and then a desire to possess her entirely had seemed almost natural as their courting developed. No, what had completely baffled him was the fact that he had not became bored of her company, quite the opposite in fact, until he fell in love and gained two of his previously ignored desires. But now he couldn't deny that the love he felt and the love that was returned to him by his family was better than anything else he had wished for as the fragile boy of the oppressive orphanage.
Pulling himself out of his contemplative thoughts, Tom gazed down at his son and heir, the proof of his and Lillian's love for each other. Unknowingly reflecting his wife's inner thoughts from only minutes previous, Tom wished that he could simply wave his hand and reduce the glamours from his son and wife. The thought reminding what he came here to do, Tom unwrapped his arms from around his lover's smaller frame and picked up their child and walked out side into the streets of Godric's Hollow. As they stood on the cobblestone street, he handed their son to Lillian as he prepared his magic for the illusion he was about to create. The air became thick with an ancient ruthless magic as Tom started to chant in Latin, focusing completely on his desire for his plan to work so he could keep his family safe. As his speech came to a close, the dark aura surrounding him dissolved into the air, blending in with its surroundings seamlessly once again.
The aftereffects of the spell were just as spectacularly as he had first hoped as he devoured the sight from within the bubble of disillusionment his Lillian erected as soon as he had started on his spell. First there was an explosion that shook the foundations of every house on the street that originated from the cottage in front of the disillusioned family, as Grindelwald's mark was visible in the quickly rising flames that tore into the cottage with a fevered vengeance. Tom simultaneously felt like cackling in glee and sighing with relief as the spell-which had originally been created by Grindelwald's right hand, Alexandra Ivanov- did exactly what he wanted to. Occasional attacks from Grindelwald supporters were not unheard of, though the German had been locked up in Numengard for many years. As Lillian had been using a stolen time turner to attend the more public gatherings on his arm with their son, so that there was no way that this would or ever could be connected to his family.
As the Leader of the Dark looked on the burning house with a satisfied feeling simmering within him, he gathered his wife and son in his embrace and then disappeared from Godric's Hollow silently.