Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Harry Potter.

He chose the surname Black because that's what his heart now was, pure black and shriveled up.

He was hardly going to keep the surname Slytherin, not after everything Salazar had done to his mother. She had been young and beautiful when she had met Salazar, who promised her everything but he gave her nothing but a child out of wedlock.

But Corvus was no longer a child, he was twenty-one and a week away from starting his new job as a potion's professor at Hogwarts under the name Corvus Black.

He half expected when Godric saw him to recognize some trait he'd shared with Salazar, but he hadn't.

Maybe there other than the ability to talk to snakes, something which he didn't advertise, was the only thing he'd ever inherited from Salazar.

He certainly hadn't ever shared his wealth with Corvus or his mother, his other children they had been given everything by Salazar but not him.

No, he'd been cast away like he was nothing but he would show Salazar and the rest of his spawn that he was better than all of them.

He would bring Godric, Helga and Rowena to their knees an make them see they were wrong.

And he would do this Corvus Black not Corvus Slytherin.


AN: A massive thank you to my wonderful friend Callie who gave me the idea for this story.