Albus Dumbledore sighed as he saw the two dementors standing guard in front of the execution door. Dumbledore wondered to himself how he had ever gotten talked into coming here to witness such an event. The minister of magic had wanted him there to see the dementors relieve a prisoner of their soul. When Dumbledore had asked why he should come, the minister only replied, "I want you to talk to the prisoner before they do it." Dumbledore had complied then, but now he wondered what the use was. Most prisoners of Azkaban were out of their minds, and could not talk rationally. Dumbledore assumed that this was another such prisoner, judging for the fact that the minister had said that the prisoner had been in Azkaban for half of their life-more or less.

Dumbledore passed the dementors, and entered the room, and to his shock, he saw a ten-year-old girl sitting defiantly on a three-legged stool in front of an exasperated minister.

"I have told you three times, and I shall tell you once more, I will not tell you!" The girl said icily.

"This is the prisoner that has been in Azkaban for half their life-more or less?" Dumbledore exclaimed.

The minister turned to Dumbledore, "yes, she was first in Azkaban when she turned five for murdering a werewolf, then she escaped three weeks later, claimed she got 'bored'. Then about five months after she escaped, she was caught again, and so on for about three more times. This is her fourth time getting caught, and finally I've decided that I'm just going to have the dementors finish her off. Right now though, I'm just trying to get her to tell me who she is! I really haven't the slightest clue what her name is, and I would like to find out who has put the ministry through so much!"

Dumbledore let out a surprised breath; this girl had escaped Azkaban? No one else had done this, but a ten-year-old girl had! It was unbelievable.

Dumbledore took off his glasses and rubbed them, then placed them back on his nose and took a closer look at the girl. She had long black hair, and red eyes. She had pearly white skin, which showed that she had not been in the sun a lot in her life, and she didn't look very strong.

"You said that she killed a werewolf?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, with a knife, a silver-bladed knife," the minister responded tiredly.

"Well then girl, why did you kill him?" Dumbledore asked the girl in question.

The girl eyed him for a moment, then responded in an icy voice, "I killed him because he got in my way, you got a problem with that?"

Dumbledore leaned closer to her; "don't you know that it's wrong to kill someone?" He asked in a low voice.

"There is no right or wrong," the girl responded in just as low a voice as Dumbledore, "only power."

Dumbledore leaned away from her, and turned to the minister. "It's quite obvious that she's under Voldemort's control, but how he caught her at this age is a wonder." Dumbledore turned to look at the girl once more, and saw that she was grinning.

"Voldemort caught me at this age, because he's my father," she told them.

The minister's eyes widened, and Dumbledore's jaw fell open.

"His-his daughter?!" the minister exclaimed once he again found his voice.

"Who's you mother?" Dumbledore asked.

The girl started for a moment, then looked away, "I-I don't know, father never told me."

For the first time since entering the room, Dumbledore felt a bit of compassion to the girl. It seemed after all that she had been raised in the dark side, and she must be brought over. Who knew her capabilities? With Voldemort as a father… Dumbledore couldn't dare to imagine.

"Minister, I don't think that you should let the dementors at this girl, I think that she really doesn't know any better, how about this, I'll… adopt her!" Dumbledore said with a stroke of inspiration, "and I'll enroll her into Hogwarts, where she can be with kids her own age, and maybe they can influence her for the good."

The minister, if possible, looked even more shocked at this idea, but as he considered it, he found it a good one.

"Okay Dumbledore, we'll do this your way," the minister turned to the girl, "but if you kill anyone else, or escape from the school, then you will come straight back to the dementors, and you know what that means."

The girl, it appeared, did know what that meant, her eyes showed a flicker of fear, but then hardened again. She sneered nastily, "of course, whatever you say." She got off the stool, and stretched her muscles a little.

Dumbledore walked to the door, and motioned her to follow him.

When they stepped outside, Dumbledore turned to the girl.

"Will you please tell me your name?" Dumbledore asked.

"My name is Tia Salita Riddle," the girl responded with a gleam of satisfaction in her eyes.

* * *

A month later, Dumbledore watched from the teacher's table as Professor McGonagall sorted all the first years.

"Black, Sirius!" She called out as a dark headed mischievous little boy strode to the hat.

The past month had been pure torture, attempting to teach Tia the law of the land, and why she should obey it, and why it was wrong to disobey it.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat screamed.

The boy took off the hat and went to the Gryffindor table.

Then there was the deal with the wand, Dumbledore moaned mentally as the next children were sorted. When they went to the wand store, Tia had flatly refused to get a wand, she could use magic just fine without one thank you very much. She claimed that a wand slowed you down.

"Lupin, Remus!" Professor called. Dumbledore paid attention to this one; this was the little werewolf that they had planted the Whomping Willow for.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat screamed yet again.

Dumbledore watched Remus take off the hat and walk nervously to the Gryffindor table. He watched him fondly as the next few kids were called, he saw the Sirius Black lean over and say a few words to him, and Remus responding.

"Pettigrew, Peter!"

A fat, tubby bow with beady black eyes waddled to the stool, he slumped on the stool, and it was quite awhile before the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The next boy up had dark eyes as well, but they were full of mischief, and his hair was all over the place. He had glasses, but that only seemed to increase his air of a prankster.

"Potter, James!"

James sat on the stool, and the hat was barely on his head when it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" James at once went to go sit by Sirius, and the two of them began talking.

Ah young schoolboys, I remember when I was their age, a long time ago. Dumbledore turned back to the line, and saw Tia glaring at a boy with a long nose and greasy black hair who seemed to be trying to get her to respond to him. She was holding her wand defiantly, and her whole form was rigid.

Again, Dumbledore's mind went back to the wand shopping. Tia had claimed that she did not need a wand, that whatever magic the teacher taught would be basic for her. In the end Dumbledore had won, but it hadn't been easy.

"Riddle, Tia!"

Dumbledore watched with interest as Tia glided up to the stool, no hurrying for her. To the surprise of Dumbledore, she sat there with the hat for quite awhile. Dumbledore had expected her to go straight into Slytherin, after all, she was related to him. But to his astonishment, when the hat screamed out her house, it wasn't Slytherin, it was,

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Tia sauntered over there, and sat at the end of the table, away from everyone else.

Dumbledore looked at her in surprise; she looked as pleased as punch. Dumbledore took her placement as a good omen.

"Snape, Severus!"

The boy with the long nose and greasy black hair walked up to the hat. The boy looked over at Tia's back longingly, but the hat yelled,

"SLYTHERIN!"

The boy took off the hat and went over to the Slytherin table. Dumbledore studied Tia and her interaction with the other students over his glasses as Professor McGonagall called out the last of the students. When she finished, she rolled up the scroll, and took her seat.

At this point, Dumbledore stood up, and said, "Let's eat!"

As he sat back down, he began to wonder if he had made the right decision after all. Too late now, he thought as he began to eat.