making a plan
first year, 1971.
Life went on for young Adeline Black after the more than daunting facts she was faced with over the pre-Yule break. She had spent most of her time recollecting and cataloging her other selves memories, and in turmoil over what to do next. It was most helpful that she wasn't due back home for another week, seeing as her mother would surely notice something amiss about her behaviour.
There was little to go on, and with her sudden mental block pushed forward, the memories were basically obsolete. She remembered little of anything about the memories of Hermione Granger, but oddly the knowledge stayed. Adeline was still spouting random facts from books she had never read, had ear worms of music and magic she couldn't have recalled ever hearing before and the insufferable need to do something about it.
Her peers had thought her a little stranger than usual, to the point that she had actually reassure her dorm mates that she wasn't going to start throwing hexes at them at random. Why they thought that in first place she had no idea, but the reassurances kept them off her back further thankfully. Though they did send her curious and fearful gazes on occasion—there was little she could do to change that.
Most pressing to her was this so called Dark Lord and his nefarious plans. She knew little about him, as it seemed her other self, Hermione, only knew the basics and didn't seem at all keen to share anything else with her. Adeline knew he had created horcruxes— the most filthy of Black magic — and had split his soul not once but seven times, if her calculations were correct, and her note-taking wasn't completely gibberish.
The issue was knowing where exactly he had hidden them and whether they had been created yet at all. She assumed most of them were, excluding that of Harry Potter, but in differing locations. It didn't seem likely that Lucius Malfoy would be holding such an artefact when he was only in year four at Hogwarts. A fact she unfortunately knew seeing as he was Narcissa's latest infatuation, but at least her cousin's happiness was filled in the future, with the Malfoy heir eventually becoming her spouse. Adeline tried not to think too long and hard about that.
Therefore she was stumped, with little to go on. All she did know was that he seemed to surround himself with influential people from older, pureblooded families. In all honesty and as much as she loathed it, Adeline was likely better off waiting for him to approach her or her family before planning anything else. Besides, it wasn't like Aunt Walburga or Druella could keep such a 'charming and cunning' man to themselves. They thrived on gossip and loved to get in the middle of the most petty of arguments—plus from her shabbily taken notes it seemed likely that many of their children had been involved in his workings.
Sirius, was literally placed in Azkaban for plausibility of being in liege with him, and while Adeline didn't know exactly who this RAB person was, she was willing to bet a couple Galleons on it being Regulus. Then there was the matter of Lucius Malfoy and him marrying her cousin Narcissa who also seemed to side on the Dark Lord's side. Bellatrix would follow whomever had the most power or appeal to her, she was always self-serving and willing to get her hands dirty. Though most peculiarly Andromeda hadn't been spoken of at all in her notes from the memories, so maybe there was hope to have one cousin of hers on the side of the light—or more accurately, the morally grey.
No, Adeline was not going to just hand over her information to the light side— that was a foolish and utterly idiotic thought to have. It didn't matter what 'greater good' Albus Dumbledore attempted to persuade her with, he was the one who had gotten her in this mess to begin with and she couldn't trust the man farther than she could throw him. She was furious at him to say the least, furious about his inaction and the little details and information Hermione had gained about him. She wouldn't put it past him to have his own agenda being filled whilst hundreds around him died as a result. 'For the greater good—,' what an utter load of codswallop. Adeline would rather chop off her own arm than serve him ever again. Even the Dark Lord sounded more promising, and he was a maniac.
That was also likely the biggest difference between this girl Hermione and herself. Hermione had trusted Dumbledore and was naive with that trust too—far too Gryffindor-ish as her Slytherin cousin's would say. Relying firmly on their emotions to guide them rather than the ever so favourable, logic and wit. Adeline had no plans on dying before she was old and wrinkly and sat on a Manor's porch drinking tea— she liked to envision a Manor with a garden to plant many potions herbs.
Therefore she was not going to get caught up in the middle of this—she just wouldn't. Whether it was Dumbledore or the Dark Lord who approached her, she would simply slam the door in there face and refuse every persuasion and manipulation tactic they had at their disposal. On the other hand, she wasn't about to let a bunch of people die just because of her own selfishness to stay safe, hence her dilemma.
Adeline wished more than anything to be able to talk to someone about what she had seen, but she knew that to be a horrible idea and likely just get her shipped off to a psychiatric ward. So, she resigned herself to working in the shadows, just like any proper Slytherin ought to do. She would further her research on this Dark Lord, broaded her scope on how to prevent a few key-deaths and events and perhaps sway a few pureblooded families to the right side, which was no side. Adeline would take down these horcruxes one by one by purchasing a few dozen vials of Basilisk venom, since she had no wish to learn how to cast Fiendfyre and dispose of them at her leisure.
Perhaps, her plans were a little ambitious for a first year student, but she was determined to set everything right that her old self, or perhaps future self would be more accurate, simply couldn't. Adeline would succeed, by pure determination and stubbornness if that's what it took and nothing could stop her. Her mother often said she was like a harpy once she put her mind to something— unrelenting and pesky in nature.
Like every good and thoroughly thought out plan, Adeline first had to make a list of what had happened in the future to start off this mess and limit the things she wanted to change for the better. With a grin coating her lips, she dug in her bedside table for a roll of parchment and got to work, with her quill and book of memories already in hand. She had research to conduct—most of which would likely eat up a good chunk of her holidays. Oh well, Maman* would surely understand her wish to stay at school, rather than return home for a few weeks. Right?
Adeline Black rang in the new year with a list. A long list at that, colour coded by severity and need of fixing, she had also catalogued approximate dates on when each important event took place in her new future and how to change it. The most immediate fix she need to make was her families alliance to the dark, which was easier said than done— how this Dark Lord got them to bow at all would stay a mystery to her, however. She knew from her Lady lessons that a Black does not bow to anyone and surely not a half-blood. That had been an interesting tid-bit to come across when looking for her Dark Lord. Tom Riddle, also known as the Dark Lord and later Lord Voldemort, was a half blood and the last living descendant of the Gaunt Family.
He also didn't try too hard to hide from public records either, though she didn't expect a boatload of organization from a megalomaniac to be honest. The amount of records in the Muggle world this man had made for himself was almost legendary. From petty thievery, to vandalism and sexual assault—and the list only went on, including the possibility of satanic worshiping. It was no wonder this man had became a terror in the magical world. Finding him in the magical world however, had been a little more difficult.
She had started looked at the old families and their descendants—namely those of the Sacred Twenty-eight— when she had stumbled across Tom in the self-updating scripture in the Beauxbatons vast library. The librarian had of course been more than puzzled about her request for more information on the presumed dead family, but was easily manipulated into doing her bidding with a few shiny galleons left on the front desk. Adeline had been thankful for her lady lessons on that front—anyone or anything could be bought if offered the right price.
So her one mystery was solved, that of who she was fighting against. Now Adeline only had the issue of finding a way to defeat him once and for all. Though she knew she couldn't leave the safety of the castle without her mother's explicit permission or a member of staff, Adeline was at a halt in her plans. Not a bad thing of course, as she had her studies to complete after all and she knew her mother expected exemplary marks. So sub-plan locate horcruxes was on hold until the summer holidays when she might be able to talk her mother into a few social outings to check out a couple of places from Tom Riddles past. Namely, the Riddle Mansion and the Gaunt household, seeing as there had been many reports of disappearances and 'peculiar' activities.
Adeline had already ordered the vials of basilisk venom to her home in France, explaining to her mother the need to experiment on a few potions with the substance. Whether her mother believed her ruse was an entirely different story but Cassiopeia Black wasn't about to try and curb her creative-genius either way. Though her mother was getting far too suspicious as of late with her inquiring into business proposals to Uncle Arcturus, so maybe she ought to lay low for awhile. Her mother after all, had been a Slytherin back in the day despite her proclivity in experimentation and potioneering— she knew blatant manipulation when she saw it.
With second term starting Adeline threw herself into her studies once more, painfully forcing herself to lock away her book of memories and research until the summer. It would do her no good to get too far ahead and forget something important. She had a habit of hyper-fixtating on projects until they were completed—something she undoubtedly received from her mother in habits. So with classwork now taking up most of her time, and the avoidance of most of her peers, Adeline forgot about the memories. Well, mostly.
On nights when the memories were sharper than her first viewing, or when the screams of Hermione echoed in her cranium and the phantom pains of torture she had never received came in the night, she took a peak. Not long mind you, as she didn't want to become fixated on it yet again, but enough to chase away the nightmares. She would stare at her list of things to do and fantasize about all the things she would change.
Mainly, she would stare at the three points that held the most meaning to her. The death of her cousin's Regulus and Sirius, the slaughter of the Potter family and the tortured and now insane Longbottoms, at the hand of her cousin Bellatrix.
With Sirius she wouldn't rest until a trial was given if the death of the Potter's did happen despite her workings. She would make sure he was never sent to Azkaban, for better or worse. After all, with her training in 'polite' politics with her tutor's she knew just how to get a man to avoid doing the things you wanted them to. If they couldn't be bought with a price or a betrothal of sorts—poison worked very well at keeping someone quiet and agreeable. Granted, Adeline couldn't poison the entire Wizengamot without arising some suspicions so hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
With Regulus, or RAB, though she was quite certain it was him, she would simply start a relationship. Not a romantic one by any means but one that was a beneficial acquaintanceship to them both. It would be easier to get him to trust her and lead her to the horcrux later in life if he had someone on his side. Regulus was likely lonely in his past or future life and had no one turn too, hence his death quest to bring down the Dark Lord. If Adeline could become close with him, she could persuade him to help her—or help him if he turned out to suffer from a fragile sense of masculinity.
Of course, she would rather he didn't join the Dark Lord's side at all, but somethings couldn't be helped and with Walburga as his mother she knew that feat to be horrifically, unlikely. The main objective was to keep him alive— she knew her cousin could survive everything else. He just needed to stay alive and trust her in the end to achieve it. It was a bunch of wishes and fingers being crossed on that front, but Adeline liked to think she could be persuasive when needed.
The Potter's would be more difficult to pull off, this she knew just by the second sources in the few letters from Sirius and her mother about all the shame he was bringing to their family. With Sirius all but clinging to the light driven family she needed to get them away from Dumbledore's hands. Which was obviously easier said then done, seeing as Fleamont Potter offered many donations to the school and his mother not only worked as a Medi-witch but did the vaccinations at the school with the matron. Adeline only knew this because she had been asking about them in her letters to Sirius— the idiot loved to ramble on about how great they were and how wonderful this 'James Potter' was.
They would be hard to pull away but she assumed if she played the part and said the right things— perhaps created just enough doubt in their visions of the man she could get them to understand and think before choosing a side. If luck was with ,her maybe they would even just stay neutral and she could save herself the ongoing headache of having to be the devil's advocate. Thus with his parents not believing in the old fool unconditionally perhaps, James Potter and Lily Potter, née Evans will never have to go hiding and be murdered at all. Then Harry Potter, Hermione's best friend, would never become an orphan and never have to die at Voldemort's hands from the manipulating old fool.
It sounded perfect in her head, with no reason for a snag to occur but she knew that it would be best to have more than one plan incase of such things. There was a lot of room for error but now of which that couldn't be fixed if needed. If worst came to worse she might just have them question her under Vertiserum about why she thinks they should stay the hell away from Dumbledore. Drastic as it was, it might get the house of lions to listen to her if they doubted her too much. Though meeting them would be a bit more difficult to pull off. She hoped they still held their annual Yuletide balls, so then she could sneak in as an invited guest with Sirius. That would surely open a few doors to her— and as much as she loathed dancing it was the best time to bring up politics.
Last of course was the Longbottom's, a light oriented family in the Sacred Twenty-eight. She didn't know anything about them besides what her memories had cleaved from Hermione who had befriended their son, Neville. She knew they were tortured to insanity by her cousin Bellatrix and a few other known deatheaters, and she knew that it had happened because of Dumbledore. Unlike the Potter's she didn't want to persuade them away from the light —though Adeline would if she could—, but more or less have them be more cautious in their actions. If they had never abandoned their safe house after the war they would have never been tortured in their home.
They needed to be more vigilant, even as Auror's, and that was something she could do. All she needed to do was persuade them to keep there backs up, to not make enemies outright. Something she had a feeling the Longbottom's would be good at, seeing as they were usually only described as kind and compassionate in social outings with other purebloods. Even Aunt Walburga struggled to find something nasty to say about them and she was known for her cutting insults. Then again, Augusta Longbottom was known for her own brand of cold wit and thinly-veiled insults, though she had the most spectacle herbal blends of teas according to her mother.
It was during these nights, when thinking of all the things she would do by saving these people that she was able to find sleep again. Fantasies of little Harry Potter growing up in a loving home and family, without Dumbledore's interference. Regulus living a long and happy life and Sirius running the Black family to it's fullest potential—eradicating some of it's dated views and policies. Even of the Longbottom family going on picnics in the park and joyously celebrating each birthday for their son with friends and neighbours. A world without fear and darkness but one with hope and light.
There would be other darknesses, other Dark Lord's to creep out from behind the shadows but Adeline didn't think of those. She thought of the lights and smiles, and a world that could breathe a sigh of relief. Adeline would save them, she had too. Why else would she be given memories that bleed so deeply into her subconscious and shake her to her very core, or the dreams that scream of torture and pain she had never felt?
Adeline would change it, she would change it all.