The Heir of Slytherin

Everyone in Hogwarts knew of Tom Riddle, the first Slytherin muggleborn in living memory, the genius, the orphan, the silent. Everyone in Hogwarts also knew that Slytherin hated Tom Riddle. Blood fanaticism and old rules clung to the house, in the practised grace of its heirs and their hierarchical way of living. No-one caught them doing anything to Riddle, but nobody wanted to look either.

Tom Riddle however, was looking at them. In envy. In longing. He wanted the secret smiles, the effortless way his housemates moved through the wizarding world. Like they owned it. He wanted to rest here, as they did. He almost preferred the bullying of the orphanage to the indifference and snide superiority of Slytherin House.

If it were not for Suspira, Tom imagined he might just have gone mad. He found her two months ago, an adder hiding from a group of Gryffindors at the edge of the forbidden forest. He had hidden behind some trees and casted a confundus at each boy in quick succession, then slipped the young thing into the sleeve of his robe. Suspiria was his first friend. She was also trouble.

When he had taken her to the castle, he had not thought of how he would feed her. Mice, he was able to accio, but while that satisfied her hunger it did not satisfy her need to hunt. Filch was already complaining about the bloody rat carcusses that turned up around the school and Tom had to warn Suspiria when a dead puffskein was found outside the Hufflepuff dormitory.

Walking down the marble steps to the Slytherin common room and hearing hisses and the coiling of scales, Tom realised that he had not warned Suspiria enough. There was his beloved friend, dodging spell after spell with blood gleaming on her teeth and a decapitated owl head by a boy's feet. Tom could see a brown feather fluttering within Suspiria’s mouth.

“Expelliarmus” The boy's wand, Crabbe Tom now recognised, hit against the wall and fell too close for comfort to the fireplace. Tom could have sworn, he now had the full attention of the inner court, who were none too pleased to be interrupted by a rogue wand.

“How dare you, you filthy mudblood”

“You were trying to Crucio, my familiar. Unsuccessfully” That was perhaps the wrong thing for Tom to say. Crabbe had noticed the inner court's attention and was not pleased to have been shown up by the mudblood. He was a pureblood, but just barely. Every year he had tried to impress the inner court and every year he failed.

“The owl started it, Tom. It tried to gouge my eyes out.”

“Unfortunately Suspiria, these people don’t particularly care” Silence. A shift occurred around Tom, a stiffness to everyone. He knew that this was the first time he had spoken to his familiar, but the magical world was filled with strange talents.

“Tom” Orion Black. Tom was surprised the head of Slytherin even knew his name. “Did you just speak to your snake?”

Tom thought that should have been obvious. “Yes”

“Little mudblood trying to be a Slytherin?” Crabbe should have kept his mouth shut, Tom could see the disgusted look on the inner court's faces. If there was one thing the inner court could not stand, it was one of their own behaving like a Gryffindore.

“Suspiria, get behind me”

“Get out. Everyone” Orion Black was looking Tom in the eyes, something that most purebloods avoided. As if they would catch the muggle from him. Crabbe evidently did not know if he was included in this everyone, but a glare from Abraxas confirmed that he was.

Tom heard the crash of marble against marble as the doors to the common room were shut, the sound of the latch echoing around the room. He did not enjoy being here, trapped with the others. He had to hold himself still as Orion Black walked up to him, pulling up his sleeve to show a snake curling in and out of a skull. A tattoo, or the wizarding equivalent. Tom had never seen anything like this though.

“Can you wake it up?” Orion's voice held a desperate hope that Tom knew was a promise of cruelty if unfulfilled. His magic, swift and strong, pushed at Tom's own, seeking something. Tom looked back down to the tattoo and the snake's eyes. They almost seemed restless, as if he could see them moving beneath the skin.

“Wake up” The eyes opened, and Tom had to take a few steps back. Blue eyes, his own shade blinked back at him in mocking mischief. Orion's magic broke through Tom's own and for a few seconds he wondered if this was some new and strange sort of punishment. That was before he felt Orion's magic curl around his core, felt the protective nature of it.

Tom was so distracted by this feeling that he had not noticed Orion falling to his knees, head bent and arms shaking. He did notice the others, who fell one after the other on bended knee, knights with wands held up in one hand, the same tattoo presented on the other arm.

The eyes, he could see now were moving. As if they knew he was here and just waiting to say the words. Knowing magic that could certainly be the case. “Wake up”

Tom felt it, the six strands of magic hitting him. He fell back onto the steps, not registering the impact of hitting the marble. Six strands breaking down his defences and hunting down his core. He collapsed when they found it.

Orion was the closest to their new lord, and so was the first to realise Tom had collapsed. There was a moment of blind panic, to have found the heir of Slytherin and so quickly lost him would have shaken the wizarding world to the core.

Orion however, felt his lord's magic beneath the skin, humming softly. Abraxas walked around Orion to lift his lord into his arms, before anyone could try to levitate him and disturb the fragile bonds. He frowned slightly at how light his charge was.

He turned towards the others. “Orion you had better let Slughorn know what has happened. You can use his floo port to contact your father. Avery, let the rest of the house know that the heir has returned.” Abraxas started to walk out the recently opened door, before turning back to Avery and saying, “Make sure they know exactly what that means. Especially Crabbe.”

Orion motioned to his cousin Walburga who joined his side and they walked together down the shadowed halls of Hogwarts to Slughorn's office. Both were silent, letting the sounds of their leather soles echo ahead of them like a warning. Let the light know, Walburga thought. Let Dumbledore hear them and weep that the dark has found its heir.

Orion found Slughorn's office to be an affront to what he considered true Slytherin values. The frames on the walls, shiny gold frames on the cupboards and silver frames on the desk and in each of these frames was someone important that he knew. Orion greatly disliked flambouncy.

“Mr Black, I do say it is a surprise to see you here after curfew “

“Professor, I know -”

“Tom Riddle is the heir of Slytherin. Can we use your floo?”

Orion sighed at Walburga’s impatience, though he could not fault her for it. Professor Slughorn may not have been from one of the ancient houses, but he was still a pureblood. He was also one of the most politically savvy people that Orion knew.

“Of course child, of course” His voice held no expectations of restitution, no smugness in being able to help an ancient heir. Instead, the professor moved to the side so that Walburga and Orion could see clearly the fireplace behind him.

“ Where is the heir now? ” Orion paused. He did not want his lord, at such a vulnerable moment as this to be pawed at, but it seemed wise to have a dark inclined wizard to defend against Dumbledore.

“He is in the hospital wing, with Abraxas”

“The hospital wing”

“Bond overload, sir.” Orion took a fistful of floo powder from the mantle, feeling some of the soft green sand escape through his fingers.

“Thank you for letting us use your floo. We should be back soon enough”

Orion did not want to leave a lot of time for more questions, and quickly called out “Grimmauld Place”. He felt the twisting of the floo magic, the speed of it nearly making him sick. He was grateful to land on his feet into the hall, stepping onto the black oak floors to make room for his cousin who was close behind him.

“Sokrey” The house-elf was surprised to be answering his young master's call, but made no mention of it, only bowing so that both his ears scraped the floor.

“Where is mother and father”

“Master and Mistress are in the parlour young master.”

Left and right, the house seemed to trick him, turning him back around to the kitchen and the dining room and everywhere but the parlour. His father must be very angry, to have the house react like that. It took Walburga threatening to leave burn marks everywhere that the house finally stopped

“I expect Orion, that you have a reason to have snuck out of Hogwarts at ten o’ clock in the evening.” Orion's father did not even turn away from his newspaper to look at his son.

Orion would not like to admit to such pettiness, but he was glad that he for once had the upper hand. It was Orion that had discovered the Slytherin Heir and it was Orion that was bonded to him. He pulled up the sleeve of his robe, so that the mark was visible. As the silence held, his father finally looked up, prompting Orion's mother to do the same.

Lord Black grabbed his son's wrist and pulled the mark towards him. A gentle finger, a strange thing when attached to his father, traced the grey snake around his son's forearm.

“How?” It was a childlike question, which made both Orion and Walburga uncomfortable. They were both used to seeing Lord Black as this ever present authority lingering on the outskirts or their lives. Orion felt cruel for his enjoyment of his father, struck dumb by shock and hope.

“Tom Riddle, one of our classmates. You wouldn’t even believe it, he just started speaking parseltongue, right there in the common room. He used it to wake up the bonds”

“He has bonded?”

“Yes. With all of us there.”

“ He was able to bond with all of you” Orion had focused so much on his father, that his mothers sharp question gave him a fright. Her tone was both surprised, and worried. She had been studying as a mediwitch before she had married and had picked up on the potential consequences of such a bonding.

“Yes mother, he lost consciousness after it. Abraxas is taking him to the hospital right now.”

“We must go, Serena pack a bag for us”

“My love, if we go now we will only be drawing attention to the boy. Dumbledore's attention”

“We cannot let a dark lord unconscious in the hospital wing while Albus Dumbledore stalks the halls of Hogwarts.”

“Going to Hogwarts guarantees that he learns of the boy's heritage. Then we will have to leave and Dumbledore will have plenty of opportunities to get him. That Abraxas boy has a good head on him and Lestranges twins are at Hogwarts too. Would we not make a better use of our time letting the others know, and beginning to prepare the way.”

Lord Black evidently did not like that his wife was right, especially not in front of Walburga and Orion. That didn’t stop her from being right. He nodded once at her before calling for Sokrey to get his good coat.

“You go on back to the hospital wing now. I don’t want that Malfoy child getting in with our lord before you do”

“Yes mother”