So I'm going to try something a little different this and I'm actually really excited. Please please please review! Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Chapter warning: none

I'm just your average ordinary everyday superhero

Trying to save the world, but never really sure

Tom Riddle hated surprises. As much as he loved Hogwarts and being a wizard, he hated the surprise of finding out he was one. He hated the one time in fourth year when Alabaster Avery, Edmund Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, Abraxas Malfoy, and Leopold Nott invited him home with them for the holidays and set up a surprise birthday party for him. He hated the surprise of having a muggle for a father and a mother who was weak from a powerful family.

Tom didn't like the surprise he was now being given by Avery telling him a seer was there to meet him. Tom never had any faith in divination, yet he felt inclined to hear what the seer had to say. "Send her in, Avery."

Cassandra Vablatsky waltzed through the door before Avery could go get her. Tom recognized her from seeing her picture on a book of hers recently released. "Let me guess, you saw in the fog that I would accept your presence," Tom said haughtily.

Cassandra smirked and sat across from him. "No. You just spoke rather loudly that I heard from out in the hall. No bother to send Alabaster out to fetch like the good little dog he is, " She glanced over at Avery. "You're excused, Alabaster."

Avery glanced over to Tom, who nodded. Avery left. "So you are the great Tom Riddle."

Tom sneered. "It is Lord Voldemort. I do not go by that insipid muggle name. I haven't for years now."

Cassandra chuckled. "You will always be Tom to Fate. Voldemort is who you want to be, but Voldemort is not who you are, or who you will become."

"What will I become? Who will I become?" Tom asked curiously.

Cassandra shrugged. "That is unclear."

Tom snorted, "And you call yourself a seer."

"I call myself a seer because I am one. Some futures are just unclear in the mist because of ambivalence."

"Ambivalence?"

"Yes. Ambivalence is—"

"I know what ambivalent means, seer!" Tom shouted.

"I can tell you that a path you could've taken would have led to your demise," Tom paled. "But that path is now growing faint as the one I see grows in the mist." He perked up at the positive news. Perhaps this seer would be the key to his plans and victory.

"Tell me. What do you mean? How has my path already changed?"

"Your path changed just by me showing up here to see you and you accepting my presence instead of rejecting me. The path I see I cannot tell you if you will get what you want or meet your demise like the other one," Cassandra explained.

"Then why are you here if you can't tell me much?"

She shrugged. "The only reason your future, amongst others, is blurry is because of a group of ambivalent ones."

"Tell me how I can make them side with me," Tom demanded.

Cassandra shook her head. "I cannot. I can feel their essence in the beyond but they do not exist yet."

Tom glared at the woman. "You are telling me my future hangs in the balance of people not yet born? My future hangs in the balance of children?"

"That is correct. I can see a baby though. A little girl to be specific. She will be very bright," Cassandra's eyes were closed. "She reminds me of you."

"Me?"

"Yes. You were stuck in a world you did not belong to just like she will be. She will be alone until she proves herself to others, and even then she must keep on proving herself to others."

"Why can you see that child but not the others?"

Cassandra shrugged. "I can't answer everything for you. She has great amounts of ambivalence surrounding her in the future but I cannot tell if it is her own or others that she influences."

"How will I know? This child must be important. How will I know where I can find her?" Tom realized that this little girl must hold some key, and if he understood Cassandra correctly, this girl was going to be a muggle-born or half-blood raised by the muggle parent. Perhaps the girl may be an orphan.

Cassandra smiled. "You will know. Each ambivalent child will raise a tremor to your future, but hers you will absolutely be sure of. I must bid you good-bye for now, Tom Riddle. I sense we shall meet again."

Tom only stared at the seer as she walked out of the room. He still hated surprises.

Tom was staring at a map of Northern Ireland when Yaxley walked in. "My Lord."

Tom turned to his follower. "What is it, Yaxley?"

"I was in Knockturn an hour ago looking for a book and a woman came up to me and said to give you this letter," He handed the letter to Tom. "She only said that this would not be the last. I'm sorry to say that I did not recognize her."

Tom snatched the letter and ripped it open. It had been ten years since Cassandra Vablatsky had visited him. Her visit was always in the back of his mind. He read:

The first tremor has cried. I'm sure you already felt it.

Tom wasn't sure what the tremor felt like but cried must relate to a baby being born. "Have any followers recently bore a child?"

Yaxley shook his head. Tom frowned. It shouldn't have surprised him that it was not one of the followers' child.

Tom received his next letter three years later. Alabaster delivered it to him. "I don't understand why you are in contact with her, my Lord."

Tom snatched the letter. "I'm not. I haven't actually seen Vablatsky since we met that one time thirteen years ago. The first letter I ever got from her came three years ago. I wouldn't call that frequent contact. I can't even send her anything."

He ripped the letter open.

Two.

Tom couldn't get out of bed two years later. His head felt as if it were splitting. "Klepper!" A small house-elf popped into his room. "Are any of my followers wandering around here?" Klepper nodded. "Tell one of them to bring Cassandra Vablatsky here. Immediately."

Klepper nodded and left. Today felt different. Ideas swirled through Tom's head of what could be going on.

Hours later, someone knocked on Tom's door. "I found the woman, my Lord," he heard Dolohov say from the other side.

"Send her in, Dolohov," The door creaked open as Cassandra glided in. "My head is killing me. I feel pain everywhere."

"I'm not a healer. You are in your fifties. Perhaps it is old age," Cassandra answered.

Tom glanced over at the seer. "Aren't you almost ninety?"

She nodded. "But I feel like I'm as old as you. Why have you summoned me? I don't appreciate a burly man blowing my door to bits and ordering me to come with. I do expect you or that Dolohov to replace it."

"I told you. I am in pain. Why? Today just feels different," Tom explained. "I feel...I don't know."

Cassandra made herself comfortable in a chair next to Tom's bed. "The girl was born today. Sweet little angel she is. Born to two muggles who have tried for years."

Tom sighed. "What do I do? You have told me this child is important but what do I do with her? Kill her? Raise her? Teach her?"

"That is for you to decide. You will know when you find her," Cassandra said. "I must go now. The Leaky Cauldron always has good pudding on Wednesdays. You will hear from me soon."

Cassandra got up to leave. "Why do you never offer me advice?"

"I see the future. I can't tell you what exact decisions get you there. Every choice you make, even the most simple of choices, like whether or not you take a shower today, changes the path you take. I can only feel the essence of the powerful choices that will lead you to the end game," Cassandra walked towards the door. "I have a duty to the future and the eye. I cannot disobey. Good luck, Tom."

The seer walked out, leaving Tom to himself. "Klepper!" The house-elf popped into the room where Cassandra had been moments ago. "Get me Alabaster and Leopold. They are the only two who might understand this."

An owl delivered his next letter four days later. Avery was in his presence. "Where is Nott?" Tom demanded.

"Calla bore a son to him in the early hours today. I assume he is still basking in the glow of his new heir," Avery answered.

Leopold Nott briskly walked into the office seconds later. "Theodore is asleep now just like Calla. I apologize for my tardiness, my Lord."

Tom accepted his followers apology as he opened the letter he assumed to be from Cassandra.

This one has an aura I can't dismiss.

Tom looked to his follower. "Were there any other children born today?"

"None at St. Mungo's, my Lord," Nott replied. "Only my son."

At least Tom knew one of the children who could pose a problem. Too bad it had to be the heir of House Nott. "How has the search for the muggle-born girl been going?"

Another letter arrived two months later. None of his followers had a child then. Three months after that letter, another one arrived in February. The letter corresponded with the birth of a Greengrass. The arrival of spring brought the birth of a Parkinson and a letter.

Tom's last letter came in June.

He is the last. He is important too.

Tom found Rabastan Lestrange first. "If you are looking for my sister-in-law, she as at the hospital visiting her newborn nephew."

"The Malfoy scion has been born?"

"Yes, my Lord."

Tom nodded and walked off. He had found out the first to kids were born to the neutral houses of Flint and Pucey. Nott was the next one. He discovered from Alabaster that the black widow Elara Selwyn had birthed the son of her most recent late husband, a wizard banker from Italy named Giovanni Zabini. Greengrass, Parkinson, and Malfoy rounded the list out.

All he needed was the muggle-born girl's identity.

On his birthday Tom found himself standing on the edge of muggle town called Mullion. The news reached his ears Scabior, the Lestranges, Yaxley, and Rowle decided to raid the muggle town.

Alabaster and Leopold stood next to him. "Are you both certain?"

Leopold nodded. "I pulled some strings but she was the only girl born in September—she and Theodore were the only children born in September to be precise."

"Then good thing you found me tonight," Tom said.

"I turned in a favor to get a hold of her address," Alabaster added.

Screams and sirens echoed from the town. "We must hurry. Let's apparate to the house."

Tom thought of the address in his mind and felt himself appear in front of the muggle residence he had been looking for for over a year. He heard two more pops. "Everything looks to be okay," Leopold commented. A scream came from inside the house. "Perhaps I spoke too soon."

The three wizards ran into the house. A man lay on the floor in a pool of his own blood dead. He must've been the father. Tom recognized the damage to be from multiple hits of the cruciatus curse. Another scream and a cackle came from upstairs. "It just had to be Bellatrix," Tom grumbled. He glanced at his two companions. "Which one of you two are going to knock her out? I say you do Alabaster."

"Why me?" scoffed Avery. "I don't want to deal with the bitch."

"Because of fourth year."

"Are you talking about that surprise party we threw for you at my manor?" Tom nodded. "You can hold such a grudge."

"That comment could get you a cruciatus after this," Tom scolded.

Alabaster started to climb. "You, Leo, and I all know that we are your favorites. You would only imperio us and make us slap ourselves silly. A meaningful crucio could kill us. Besides, we found the girl."

Alabaster disappeared around the bannister. "He has such an attitude," Leopold remarked. "It is very obvious where Archibald got it from. Little bastard was sassing me during a raid the other day just because he was leading it. A good stupefy taught him to respect his elders."

Tom glanced at the body on the floor. A flash in his mind and the memory of his father's body looked just like this. Tom didn't have satisfaction this time. "What are you going to do with the girl, my Lord? Even if the mother is still alive when we get upstairs, whatever Bellatrix did to her has signed her death certificate. She's an orphan."

Tom admitted to himself that he still had no idea what he was going to do with the girl. A thud came from upstairs followed by Alabaster yelling down, "She's out cold!"

Tom and Leopold joined their comrade in a bedroom at the far end of the hall. Tom looked around the room. The walls were a soft green and lined with books. A white crib was under the window. The mother was in front of it on the ground.

"She was barely alive when I got up here," Avery said. "She kept muttering her. I assume she is talking about her baby. Poor thing is gone now."

"Where is the girl?" Tom asked. Avery pointed to the crib. Tom glanced inside, figuring he would see a dead baby. He was greeted with a surprise. "That baby slept through all of this?"

Avery nodded. "Little Archie slept all the time when he was a baby."

"As does Theo," Leopold added. "He's out by 8 and wakes up at 7 the following morning. Maybe this little girl knows her schedule quite well."

Tom walked closer to the crib and stared down at the little girl asleep not knowing the death surrounding her. She had a wild set of curls. "Are you going to kill her too, my Lord?" he heard Alabaster ask.

Tom did not respond. The small girl moved and opened her eyes. Young brown eyes met old red ones that seemed to mix with its original brown for just a second. He knew he should kill the girl. It would make everything easier. The small girl kept staring at him, never crying once. "What background did you get on her family, Alabaster?"

"Her father has an older brother. He and his wife have no children and live a couple blocks away. I bet if we can get the others out of here, they'll come check here, if they are still alive that is."

Tom walked over to Bellatrix. "Obliviate," he murmured. "Make sure she gets back to her home along with her husband, brother-in-law, and the others. Obliviate all of their minds of tonight. Then take care of the rest of the muggles in this town. Find an awful one and make it look like he went on a serial spree."

"What of the girl?" Leopold asked once more.

"Go check if her uncle and aunt are alive. Report back to me their status," Avery nodded and apparated away. "If Alabaster reports they are alive, then I will make sure they gain guardianship over her."

"You aren't afraid she is going to lead to your death? Just like in that prophecy Snape brought to your attention."

"I trust Vablatsky more than Trelawney."

"And yet you are hunting down the Potters to kill their son," Leopold paused. "What if they are dead?"

"She was born close to your son. Perhaps you could try to pass her off has your daughter and his twin sister."

Alabaster apparated back into the room. "They live and are on their way here. I ran into Scabior and the Lestrange boys. They've been obliviated and sent home. Didn't see Rowle or Yaxley. I did find a muggle thief. He is now your serial spree killer."

"Go obliviate the rest of the muggles and find Rowle and Yaxley. I want this faux story implemented in everyone's minds," Tom ordered.

"The uncle and aunt will be here any moment," Alabaster stated.

"I'll deal with them," Tom said, "Just go do your job and I'll do mine."

Tom readied himself to go to the Potter's residence, which he now knew the location of thanks to wormtail. "Are you sure about this?" Tom turned around to see Cassandra Vablatsky standing in the doorway.

"What do you want?" Tom asked. "It has been a while."

"It has been," Cassandra agreed. "I saw in the fog you were going to go try and kill the Potter boy. I thought you didn't believe anything from a Trelawney?"

"I want power. This boy could stop that."

"So could the Longbottom one, and so could the sweet, little muggle-born girl you spared. How is she? I know you keep tabs on her."

Tom scowled and did not answer. "Why I are you here?"

She shrugged. "I wondered if you knew what you were doing. Can't an old seer be curious?"

"Every time we meet I am less convinced that you are an actual seer," Tom commented. "Do you know what will happen if I go after the Potter boy."

"Death."

"Good."

"I never said whose death."

"I can't die. Therefore it doesn't matter who dies." Tom began walking to his door.

"It was love," Cassandra said suddenly. Tom stopped. "You've been wondering for months now how she lived through it all. Her mother loved her."

"So since her mother loved her she lived?" Cassandra nodded. "My mother died."

"And you are here. Never underestimate a mother's love for her child, Tom," Cassandra said. "You should go now, Tom. Perhaps say hello to the little messenger queen for me when you see her later."